Even more homeschooling projects!

I couldn't resist posting this idea. I did it when I was a kid (I was homeschooled all my life as well) and the girls and I were reading last night about photosynthesis and some of the concept seemed a little deep for my 2 and 4 year old so I thought I do something that they could SEE. So, the flower sucks the water up into the leaves and petals, but you can't exactly SEE the results... until now. First, put a LOT of food coloring into several little glasses of water.
Then cut some carnations or daisies to fit in the cup (not too long or it will fall out.. not too short or it can't reach the water) -- Notice how focused Renna is on getting to use her scissors. :]
They took turns cutting the flowers with my help and TA DA! Green, Red, Blue, Purple, and yellow (and some buds just in water to watch them open.)
We put them in the food-coloring water about noon and I took the pictures above at about 5! Pretty fast! I think tonight I'll even re-cut the stems just enough to allow them to drink even more water so that the girls can make arrangements tomorrow, and we can read even more about plants.

The little carnations weren't too expensive and I absolutely love flowers (when I was a little girl I told people that I wanted to be a florist when I grew up) and went to a few classes in college on floral design and so forth. Anyway, Lily seemed just as excited as I ever was about getting to buy flowers and carry them around the store. They weren't too expensive considering how long this kind will last and how kid friendly they are. I wish I could buy flowers more often and this was such a great educational excuse. :]