Making Dyes from Nature!

Heidi  started this lesson by asking the children to look at all the colors in their clothing.   She told them that a long time ago there were no stores.   How did people make the colors for their clothes? At first the children said, "markers, paint,  or crayons" but Heidi reminded them those things had not yet been invented!   Is there anything in nature they could have used?   After some discussion,  Heidi gave Daniel a flower to squeeze and press  to make color on the white paper. The children were very surprised to see the light red color  appear as Daniel moved across the page.

Noor used another flower to make a purple color.

Amelia had a yellow flower.

Emma used a reddish brown rock. As each child came up, Heidi asked them what they needed to do with their item from nature.  Each child said that they had to squeeze and press real hard.  Even though this was a science lesson, they gave their fingers a fine motor workout!

Then Heidi showed the children a white scarf and a colored scarf. She explained that all materials for our clothes are white  and that we dye them to add color.  She said that the color in the pinkish scarf came from a Cochineal Beetle. 

Cochineal Beetles!  Where did Heidi get them?   She suggested that the class look for cacti in the gan and they just might be lucky enough to spot the beetles!

After finding the cacti, Heidi told the children to look  for white spots because that's  where the beetles hide.

On our way into the science room, each child was asked to pick one yellow flower to add to the pot of yellow dye.

Back in the science room,  Kim had four pots and eye droppers ready for us.  What was in each pot?  The first pot had our yellow flowers, the second  had bark from an Oak tree, the third had Cochineal Beetles, and the last pot had parts from an Osage Orange tree. Cooking those materials brought out the natural dyes.   The children filled their eye droppers with all the colors from the pots and dripped them on to their scarves.   What a wonderful way to connect science and art!

Squeeze and drip......another wonderful fine motor activity.

The children were so engaged.   As they worked,  we even heard them repeat some of the words Susan uses in the art room, "It's O.K. to put one color on top of another color!"

We can't wait to see what the scarves will look like when they dry!