Thursday, September 25, 2014

Fall Crayon Color Matching - Sunflowers


After coloring our crayon transfer sheets with fall colored crayons, we got to wondering if the the colors we chose - red, brown, yellow, and orange were really the best colors to represent fall, at all.

To find out, we grabbed our largest box of crayons (one with multiple shades of each color), and headed outside to see if any of our crayons actually matched up to the natural colors of fall.

Right away, E (age 9) spotted a bunch of tiny, wild sunflowers growing in a nearby vacant lot.


She picked a few, and we pulled out the crayons that we thought might match the color of the petals.  As we held the crayons up to the flower, we were surprised to find the petals were not nearly as orange, or even gold, as we had thought at first glance.  Plain old yellow ended up being the closest match.


Then, we went on to match the crayons to the color of the stem, and center of the flower too. 


I had planned to continue - matching leaves at the park, or to pumpkins, or apples from the store. But, with the flowers picked, and on the table, and the correct crayons selected, the girls were ready to draw them.


And, of course, the sight of the girls drawing sunflowers in living color, brought to mind a picture book to share with them (click here to hear it being read on Vimoe)...


...and a math related video (even if I couldn't convince the girls to try counting the flowers' spirals)...



...and a page from the Montana field guide to check to make sure...



...our flowers were even sunflowers at all.

Just in case you're keeping track, that's art, history, literature, math (barely, but still), and science - not too bad for a wildflower growing as a weed in the autumn soil.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

9 comments:

Desiree said...

I love finding so many subjects in one simple activity. Such pretty flowers too!

Sue Elvis said...

We love Vi Hart's videos. Her enthusiasm is certainly contagious. We need to listen carefully though because she speaks so quickly, doesn't she? The sunflower drawings are very attractive!

Phyllis said...

I did that once with Katie and Fall leaf colors and it was quite fun. My boys were less interested in the idea. The picture resulting picture is lovely!!

Dawn said...

I love it! What a complete lesson.
Blessings, Dawn

Die fantastischen 5 said...

Beautiful pictures and a cool trick to teach a little math beside!

Ticia said...

What are these fall colors of which you speak? Right now I see lots of green and a little bit of mud. It's slowly becoming lots of mud as we're getting a somewhat rainy fall, that'll mean good bluebonnets come spring.

MaryAnne said...

Vi Hart is brilliant. I love her Fibonacci video.

Everything here is pretty brown, these days. Unfortunately...

Bethany said...

What a great naturre study!

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

I love how you make your kids really focus on details of what they are doing and live in the present!