Creativity and the Power of Flowers

Throughout history, artists have been captivated by the flower as the subject of their artwork. Georgia O’Keefe, who painted flowers as her specialty, is quoted as saying, “If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it, no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I said to myself - I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me, but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it - I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.”

Reasons for the flower’s place in so many paintings and drawings include the multitude of varieties of flowers, the colors and shapes, and the individual beauty of every blossom as separate from others of the same kind. The joy in painting flowers is the release from being perfect. Colors can vary. Symmetry is not mandatory. Petals do not have to be exactly the same size. For a young child, the flower is an opportunity to experiment with shapes and  colors. For an older child, the flower offers a chance to create a realistic image without tight constraints of balance and form.

Before drawing, painting, or constructing flowers in the art room, you can help students formulate an understanding of flowers. You can read age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction books about flowers, such as Lois Ehlert’s "Planting a Rainbow", Eve Bunting’s "Flower Garden," or Eric Carle’s "The Tiny Seed." You can bring flowers into the classroom for children to smell, touch, and examine with magnifying glasses. There are many other ways to get students thinking about flowers. You can invite children to write poems and songs about flowers, plant flower seeds and record their growth using measuring tools and graphs, take a walk through a local garden to see different kinds of flowers in a natural setting, or visit a local florist to learn about the art and business of flower arranging. Afterwards, you can ask children to share their knowledge of different types of flowers.

You can encourage students to use a variety of art materials to draw, paint, and construct their own flowers for fun.  Provide crayons and plenty of scrap paper for children to practice doodling flowers. Set up a sketching table with colored pencils, drawing paper, and a flower in a vase. Ask students to help you create a display of different kinds of flower drawings. Display flower artwork in the classroom, such as Vincent Van Gogh’s "Sunflowers"(1889), Jan Brueghle’s "Still Life with Basket of Flowers"(1617), and Claude Monet’s "Irises." The lesson plans below provide a variety of floral-themed art experience:

Flower Lesson Plans:

Box Bouquet 

This plant and flower lesson for students in grades kindergarten through sixth invites children to gather information about flowers, seeds, bulbs, roots, stems, leaves, etc . . . prior to creating artwork. Art teachers should at minimum provide seed catalogs and basic flowering plant information prior to creating box bouquets. Ideally this lesson would fit into a larger study of plants. Give students the opportunity to experiment with art chalk before creating their backgrounds, demonstrating how to use fingers, small sponges, paper towels and dry paintbrushes to get different effects with chalk.

Blind Contour Drawing From Life

This flower-focused lesson plan is a great introduction to traditional drawing for third grade and up. Students use nature (live orchids in pots or other flowers either in pots or outdoors in a garden or meadow) as inspiration. I like the added technique of using white oil pastels for watercolor resist.

Lao Design: Lotus Flower Construction

Looking for a use for the boxes of interesting scraps of colored paper, foil, magazine pages, etc . . . ? This lesson offers that opportunity while introducing students in preschool through fourth grade to the Lao holiday tradition of floating lotus flowers down a stream to carry good wishes to the world. Visuals show you a sample of a finished lotus flower, constructed on a Styrofoam circle or pressed newspaper form. Teachers may want to coordinate an event with parent volunteers to float the constructions attached to foam plates down a local stream. You can have volunteers stand downstream with a large net to catch lotus flowers to keep them from floating away (and polluting the waters downstream). Invite children to write their wishes on the petals before attaching them to the form with glue.

Yellow Days: Studying Vincent Van Gogh’s Paintings

Ideally, art teachers would coordinate with kindergarten teachers to schedule four “yellow days” in a row for this thorough and detailed lesson. It is worth the effort! If scheduling four consecutive days is a challenge in your school, invite the classroom teacher to do “Day 1” with the class. Lead Days 2, 3, and 4 during your regularly scheduled art periods. Be sure to share the lesson extension with kindergarten teachers as a follow-up. Display the group story with the children’s artwork.

Drawing My Own Flower Structure

Students in fourth through sixth grades use pencil, paper, and pictures of flowers cut in half to explore symmetry and flower parts in this problem-solving lesson. As students work on creating a mirror image of the half-flower photo, they will need to pay attention to visual spacing, shape, line, edges, and composition. Be sure to provide each child with an eraser and plenty of time. Encourage students to use light pressure in their drawings to make erasing and re-drawing more satisfying. I would provide pens and ink for students to trace over their finished pencil drawings upon completion.