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My Valentine Red Potato Vase
Create a unique Valentine from the garden!
This activity help kids practice their arranging skills. If you have plants in a flower bed, they are probably not all the same size. The tall plants should be behind the short plants so you can see them. Even if you are putting flowers in a vase, the tallest flowers should be in the back.
SUPPLIES
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1 medium-sized potato per 2 students (cut potatoes in half)
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straws
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scissiors
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flowers or any decorative leaves, grasses, seed heads, etc.  STEP 1
Set the flat side of the potato down on a plate. Take several straws and quickly jab them into the potato. (The trick is to firmly hold the potato in your fist with only a couple inches of the straw sticking out the bottom of your hand.) Its surprising how the straws can be poked into the potato! The straws are going to hold your flowers.
STEP 2
Decide what side of the potato will be the front. Use scissors to clip those straws shorter. Next, cut the straws on the middle just a little bit. Use a thin stream of water from the faucet to fill the straws with water.
STEP 3
Find flowers, leaves, grassess, seed pods, etc that have stems small enough to fit in the tops of the straws. Arrange the natural materials in a way that you think is beautiful using a variety  of colors and textures. If this is vase is to be given as a Valentine's gift, try using red potatoes along with red, pink and white blooms!
Look around your neighborhood and see if the beds in most yards have the taller plants in the back and the shorter plants in the front. Give your potato vase as a gift to a special person!
This project gets a 1/2 on a five point messy scale!
 from Potato Vase p115, JMG Youth Handbook |
