Today’s science art project is one of my all-time favorite ideas: A paper project that moves with a little help from science! In fact this paper flower for kids actually opens up when you put it in water and it’s so much fun to watch! There are lots of STEAM learning objectives packed into this project, be sure to head down to the Let’s Talk STEAM section to see them and download our lesson plan!
This post is sponsored by Sakura of America. I have worked with them on numerous projects over the years and I am a HUGE fan of their products. They make a variety of art supplies with my favorites being their Gelly Roll series, Cray-Pas Oil Pastels, and their Koi watercolor series. At the end of the post you can see more projects we’ve done using their beautiful supplies.
This post contains affiliate links to products.
Tip: If you do not want to make a folded and cut (kirigami) version of the blossom, skip Steps 3 & 4 and use template 2
Tip: If you do not want to make a folded and cut (kirigami) version of the blossom, skip Steps 3 & 4 and use template 2
Paper is made from trees (wood) that has been ground into a pulp and dried. Plants absorb water through a process called osmosis, this is the movement of water across a membrane from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. The process of osmosis continues until the water has reached a state of equilibrium. Since paper is made from wood fiber, when it is placed in water it absorbs the water until it every fiber is wet. Just like a wilted plant expands and perks up when it is finally watered, the fibers in our paper flowers swell and expand when placed in water, causing the flower to open!
Diffusion is very similar to osmosis but osmosis refers strictly to the movement of water. The water based inks in this project are also moving when exposed to water but they move by diffusion- the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. When the flower is placed in the water the ink is dissolved by the water and flows both through the paper to the white wide AND out of the paper and into the water, leaving a trail of ink behind.
Solubility is defined as the is the ability of a substance to be dissolved by a solvent. Water based inks like those found in our Koi markers are dissolved by water, hence water is the solvent. The black markers are pigment based and cannot be dissolved by water. That is why the black details sketched in Micron and Sensei pens remain unchanged when exposed to water. Depending on the type of pigment based ink used ,solvents may include rubbing alcohol or ammonia based chemicals.
Kirigami is the art of folding and cutting paper. It’s a variation of the more well know paper folding art technique of origami. Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper into 3 dimensional shapes without the use of cutting. If you are curious about the history of organic go here to read more. Interestingly enough Japanese paper folding use to include a cutting but when Japan opened its borders up in the 1860s the influence of German paper folding techniques caused practitioners to ban cutting in origami. There is still intense debate about wether or not cutting is allowed! Read more about the debate here. In 1962 Florence Temko coined the term kirigami in her book about folding and cutting paper shapes.
The beauty of the natural world and in particular the color and intricacy of flowers has inspired many artists. Flowers have a long history in art and many famous artists and art pieces use flowers as their subject matter, think Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Georgia O’Keeffe’s orchid watercolors.
Instant Watercolors
Click the image to go to each tutorial
Filed Under: Art for Kids, Featured Posts, Home Page Featured, Popular Posts, Sponsored Posts
OMG ANA IT WORKS EEEP! I’m as excited as a school girl! I am digging through the Art supplies for the proper Watercolor Brush pens! Thank you sooooo much for this! I don’t know HOW your brain comes up with this stuff but I’m so grateful it does.
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