About This Video

In this craft activity, Kate and Nicole show participants how to make a pressed flower project using flowers, leaves, paper, books, glue, and creative choice.

The video begins by introducing the idea of pressing flowers. Participants learn that they can gather fresh flowers or leaves from outside, use flowers from a store, or save flowers from a special event to make a keepsake.

Kate and Nicole demonstrate how to choose flowers and foliage with different colors, shapes, and sizes. They talk about complementary colors, such as yellow and purple, and show how color, shape, texture, and arrangement can affect the finished piece.

Participants then learn how to press the flowers between paper towels and heavy books. Kate and Nicole explain that the flowers need to stay under the books for about three days or longer so they can flatten and dry.

After showing pressed examples, Kate and Nicole demonstrate how to arrange the dried flowers on cardstock, glue them in place, and think about composition. They also show how pressed flowers can be used to make a framed piece, a bookmark, or a small gift.

This video gives participants a hands-on craft activity focused on nature, flowers, leaves, color, arranging, pressing, gluing, patience, and turning everyday materials into something meaningful.

Supplies Needed

• Fresh flowers, leaves, or foliage

• Paper towels

• Heavy books or another heavy object for pressing

• Cardstock or sturdy paper

• Glue, such as Elmer’s glue

• Optional: hot glue gun, with caregiver support

• Optional: scissors

• Optional: frame

• Optional: packing tape for laminating a bookmark

• Optional: hole punch, ribbon, or permanent marker for finishing a bookmark

Good For

• Adults with IDD who enjoy crafts, flowers, nature, color, arranging, keepsakes, bookmarks, or making something by hand.

• Caregivers looking for a creative activity that combines outdoor gathering, simple materials, patience, and personal choice.

• Adult day programs, home routines, or group activities about crafts, nature, flowers, seasons, color, composition, gift-making, and creative expression.

• Participants who benefit from visual modeling, hands-on exploration, choice-making, sensory materials, and projects that can be completed in stages.

How to Use This Video

Use this video as a guided craft activity for a home routine, day program, small group, or creative session.

Caregivers can help participants gather flowers, leaves, paper towels, heavy books, cardstock, glue, and any optional finishing materials. Participants can collect flowers outside, choose store-bought flowers, or use flowers from a special event they want to remember.

This activity happens in stages. Participants can press flowers first, wait several days, then return to the video later to arrange and glue the dried flowers. Caregivers may want to help choose a safe place where the flowers can stay under heavy books without being moved.

The finished project can become a framed piece, bookmark, card, gift, or keepsake. Participants can experiment with color combinations, repeated shapes, balance, texture, white space, and messages written on the back of a bookmark.

Because this activity involves scissors, glue, optional hot glue, heavy books, delicate dried flowers, outdoor materials, and possible mess, caregivers should provide support with setup, safety, pressing, gluing, drying time, cleanup, and any needed visual or hands-on assistance.

At the end, participants can show their pressed flower project to someone else, name the flowers or colors they used, choose where to display it, or make another version with different flowers and leaves.