Lazy Daisy Summer Fun

It’s official. Summer is here with its heat, humidity, and ever-present chance of afternoon thunderstorms. For many of us this change in weather patterns is a signal to slow down, relax, and enjoy the lazy daisy days of summer.

I’m embracing this philosophy with today’s activity—a fun yet easy-to-do creation of bright rainbow colors for your air conditioned spaces. Bring the summer inside—both the flowers and the rainbows.

I have many fond summer memories of treks to the fields with my sisters to pick huge bouquets of Queen Anne’s lace. When we got home, we’d promptly give each stem a long drink of water—but not just any water. With Momma’s help, we’d squirt food coloring into the glasses of water before standing the flowers in their own rainbow-colored swimming pools. The next morning we were always rewarded with a perfect blend of nature’s beauty. No longer white bunches of tiny white blossoms, the lace caps had turned to amazing shades of red, blue, green, and yellow.

As daisies are my all time favorite summer flowers, I am substituting them for the Queen Anne’s lace of my childhood adventures. The lesson is presented in photos only. This activity is also an opportunity for a springboard discussion on how flowers absorb water—a great way to bring a bit of science into summer.

So, the next misty morning, take your little ones for a walk in the field to pick the base for their own indoor rainbow creation.

Hint: I have found better success using blossoms that have not been recently watered. The flowers shown in the photos went two days with no rain.