Texas Bluebonnets

Spring in Texas we are delighted with a beautiful display of wildflowers, and the bluebonnets, our State Flower, are among the favorite of locals. Each March and April, throughout central Texas, Mother Nature gifts us with a sea of blue wildflowers across the countryside.

BOOK:
The Legend of the Bluebonnet  by Tomie DePaola is the retelling of the old Native American legend of how bluebonnets first came to grow. This books tells the story of a little orphaned girl called She-Who-is-Alone who lost her family during extreme drought. She has one cherished possession, a doll made from buckskin that had bright blue feathers in its hair. She loved the doll very much. When her tribe's Shaman states that a "great sacrifice" needs to be made, the little girl gives up her doll. The next morning, the ground is covered with bluebonnet flowers -- the same color of her doll's feathers.  Note: This is a really such a sad story and a little heavy for my preschooler, but my 8yr old thought it was really interesting.


ACTIVITY: Torn Paper Bluebonnets
My four-year-old really likes to keep things simple when it's time for arts and crafts. He doesn't like to sit still for too long. So we took some green and blue colored paper, and I asked him to tear it up into little pieces. I then asked him to arrange them into the form of a bluebonnet, and I gave him a glue stick.  And this is what he came up with. He says it will be a perfect gift for Grandma.