Helicopter Seed Art
Spring has officially sprung in Annapolis which means that every morning when we go outside, there is more to clean. Our deck chairs are covered in pollen, the water table is full of pollen, and today I noticed that our deck was covered in helicopter seed pods. I grabbed the broom to start sweeping them away when I noticed that they were actually kind of beautiful.
Our helicopter seeds come from a maple tree which, I believe, is why they are bright pink. The girls were starting their morning ritual of walking around their outside toys and deciding what to play with so I called them over to check out the helicopter seeds. After all, pink is a popular color in the Wood house.
We talked about what they reminded us of - the wings of an angel, scales on a fish, part of a butterfly. I suggested we collect them and use them to make our own art inside and the kids were thrilled for a natural art project.
Princess Elsa, aka Gemma, was my biggest collector so if you have a two year old, this is a great activity to try. We used seed starter cups that were already on our deck to collect the helicopter pods but you could use any type of cup or bowl. Gemma learned quickly that they are delicate and started repeating, “Gentle, delicate” to herself while making her collections and that is a WIN in my book, especially for my fairly handsy second child.
After we felt like our collections were complete, each child drew an animal and glued the helicopter seed pods onto them. Whitney chose a minimalist vibe with the seeds as antenna and Gemma chose a fish with the seeds as scales.
This was a fun activity that ended taking up about an hour of time in the morning and required zero prep. Bonus, it helped me clean up our deck!
