What do to with herbs if you have older kids....tying nature and reading together!

Herbs are a great play medium for all ages! Try this activity with your children 5 years old and up.  I got this great idea from the family programs at the Garfield Park Conservatory (http://www.garfieldconservatory.org/families.htm). The Conservatory has been doing this with all ages of kids for many years.

Supplies you'll need for this project

 In this project, we'll be making a cloth bookmark using an old bedsheet and common herbs (plus one pretty plant that is not an herb). All plants contain natural pigments inside their leaves, flowers, stems, etc. Where you see green chlorophyll is responsible for that color. I have chosen to use common garden herbs for this project, cilantro, oregano, and thyme. I have also added two leaves from a coleus plant for color (not an herb). If you want to invest a little more, a canvas paint dropcloth provides a sturdier medium to pound your plants on. It's a little harder to break through the fabric with this and gives the bookmark more weight. "4' x 15' Canvas Drop Cloth 58908"

1. Cut out desired size of bookmark. 

 The size you see here is 4 x 8 inches. Place selected plants on one half of the bookmark. It's important not to put too much (this is hard for kids not to do!) otherwise you will end up with a big green blobs of smooshed plants.

2. Fold cloth over in half, covering the plants. Hammer.

 It is important to tap lightly, but evenly. If you "whack" to hard, you will rip holes in the cloth and you won't be able to see the outlines of the leaves. Be sure to pound on a very hard surface, such as a cement floor or sidewalk.

3. As you tap, you will see the pigments of the plants come through.

4. Unfold bookmark.

5. Peel off debris.

6. Cut small slit at top, tie on ribbon. Place in a book!

You may wonder about the safety of using a large hammer with children. I used a regular size hammer here, but many hardware stores have very light 9 oz. hammer available. They are more petite and lighter for small hands to wield.

This is a 9 oz. hammer. Perfect for little hands but is a real tool!

Rubber mallets will press the pigments out, but you won't see the details of the leaves. We've also tried filling old fill canisters with cement and using those, but again no details, just blobs of color. Proper instruction on how to use a hammer (don't raise higher than your elbow, do light taps) and adult supervision will prevent most accidents. If you are still concerned, you can wrap the sharp end of the hammer with cloth and rubberband it. Kids will love using a "real, grown-up tool" and this can help them build confidence, too.

You can also try doing this with weeds you can find out in the sidewalk crack. There are varieties of wild chamomile that work great in addition to dandelions (smear them to make yellow marks), grass, and lamb's quarters that work nice. This can be a nice "urban nature" twist on the project.

Lamb's Quarters, a common weed found in sidewalk cracks. The ornate and unique shaped leaves work great for this project.

"Street Chamomile" as I like to call it. This grows in my garden as a weed, but they can also be found in sidewalk cracks or vacant lots.

Happy pounding and reading!