
Finished placemat
This is a fun project to make a pretty dried flower placemat. It could make an ideal Mother's Day present. Older children will manage this easily on their own but younger children will need help from an adult with the lamination process. It takes a week or so to dry the flowers so you'll also need to plan in advance and be patient.
Time: 20 minutes plus 1 week drying time
Age: Under 5's, 5-10's, Over 10's, Any Age
Level: Medium
Materials
Laminator and A4 laminating pouch
Large book or heavy weight
Method
Pick some pretty flowers from the garden (ask an adult first which ones are okay to collect). As colours may turn brown when the flowers are dried, look for interesting petal shapes. We discovered that fine flowers work better than ones with thick stems.

Flowers ready to press
Lay out a sheet of newspaper or old paper then put a sheet of kitchen roll on top. Arrange the flowers on the kitchen roll then put another piece of kitchen roll then another sheet of newspaper or old paper on top and press gently

Lay out the flowers onto absorbent paper
You can repeat with another layer of kitchen roll and flowers on top

Keep going with more layers if you need
Finish with a final layer of paper then squash the pile carefully with a large heavy book or weight. We used a brick with a flat placemat underneath to spread the weight

Squash down evenly with a heavy book or weight
Leave the flowers to dry for about a week and then carefully lift off the layers to reveal the dried flowers

One week later
Arrange a selection of flowers on a sheet of coloured paper and place carefully into a laminating pouch

Flowers laid out and ready for the laminating pouch
Laminate in a laminating machine

Younger kids will love watching the lamination process
Your dried flower placemat is now ready to use. Please upload a picture your dried flower creation via the comments section - we'd love to see it!
If you liked this activity, try
Pansy Petal Butterflies
Categories
#Flowers
#Placemat
#Mother's Day present ideas
#Under 5's
#5 to 10's
#Over 10's
#Any Age
#Medium
#Lamination