Flowers & Plants

Plants & Art Activities

Name: Plants & Art Activities
Author: Rosie McCormick
ISBN: 9780778711384

by Rosie McCormick, Jan Smith

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Synopsis

Information about various topics related to petals, tree bark, seeds, and other special characteristics of different plants forms the foundation for a variety of craft ...

Laura Hummel <%ISBN%>0778711382 - Children's Literature

Themes of science have been cleverly linked to art projects in the "Arty Facts" series. Various parts of plants, from tree bark to petals, form the foundation for a variety of craft projects. Fungi are rarely green because they contain no chlorophyll. The fly agaric toadstool is bright orange. Learn about fungi and then create a mushroom print. Bee orchids attract insects to carry pollen by their strong resemblance to a female bee. Fold paper like a fan and cut flowers, unfold them and glue on tissue paper to make an orchid picture. Some other topics include getting latex from rubber plants, dyes from plants, tree nurseries, plants from the Artic to deserts, and medicinal plants. This source is interesting and informative, and excellent photographs accompany each topic. Art projects include making handmade papier-mâché sculptures, a tie-dyed T-shirt, and a rubber band harp. Some adult supervision may be necessary, but children will surely have lots of fun with their creations. Directions are simple and well illustrated. An index, glossary, and materials guide are included. This clever source would be an excellent choice for cross curriculum studies. 2002, Crabtree Publishers,

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Editorials

Children's Literature

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-Two unsuccessful attempts to pair art activities with specific branches of science. Planet Earth contains information and crafts related to geology, volcanoes, precious metals, fossil fuels, etc. Plants focuses on leaves, bark, spores, etc. In both books, the basic activities are geared toward a preschool to very young elementary audience, and would require ample supervision. The continuing theme of the majority of the projects seems to be on cutting out various materials, pasting them to another material, cutting them out again, and mounting them to poster board. In most cases, several steps could be removed to make the project less time-consuming. Most of the crafts only vaguely relate to the accompanying text, and a few don't seem to be associated with it at all. The texts themselves, aimed at an older audience than the activities, leave out key aspects of the sciences they discuss. For instance, Planet Earth explains that the movement of Earth's plates at their juncture results in earthquakes, but the author never introduces the terms plate tectonics or fault lines. Adults would be better off developing their own curricula-related projects using general children's craft books.-Heather E. Miller, Homewood Public Library, AL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.