I've been thinking about collecting some of the "nature play" projects from when I was a kid- way back when we went outside to play, and had to amuse ourselves without smartphones. Some of these ideas are from books, some are from my grandmother, and others I probably made up on my own.
The first one of these is a doll made from crepe myrtle flowers. The flower buds and frilly petals have shapes that work as head, arms, body, and skirt. These are delicate and temporary creations. Perhaps a parent could make these creatures with flowers their child gathers if the small scale is too difficult for them to work with on their own.
Flower person #1- I used one full flower with stem as the body, a grass stem for the arms, and an unopened bud for the head. I used a mechanical pencil to poke holes for the arms and neck, and drew the face by scratching it on. I squeezed the unopened bud to reveal the "hair" color and a hint of a crown shape. This version could be made spontaneously outdoors using a twig to poke the holes.
Flower person #2- I started with a branch with one open flower and two unopened buds for the body, and an old flower for the head. First, I pinched off most of the two unopened buds to form the arms. Then the old flower without petals fit over the stem, sort of like a bobble head. For this one, I used a marker to draw the face. This is the simplest of the designs and doesn't require poking holes in the flowers.
Flower people #3- I started again with a branch with one open flower and two unopened buds for the body and arms, but this time I left the whole buds as hands. I used a different color flower for the head, poking a hole for the neck to fit in. I pressed the petals down to style the hair, and drew the face with a marker. The flower baby is a tiny unopened bud with a hole poked through it, and a single petal.
