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Teaching 'Three Flowers' Flower Arranging
 Here is a child-friendly version of ikebana, the Japanese meditative art of flower arranging. Parents and teachers are always amazed at the results, and children love it! In fact, our family sometimes still does this together even though our children are grown — we go for a walk around the yard clipping flowers, grasses and branches, then come in and arrange together. The goal here is to show children how to create harmony out of chaos; to inspire them to practice flower as a regular meditation (we're not out to create the perfect arrangement!) Ages 3 — Teen After spreading out a protective sheet, place bowls half-filled with water and containing a kenzan (metal frog), or a good sized brick of florists foam, in front of each family member.
Three Flowers Arranging
Have everyone sit in a circle and explain that we are going to learn how to create harmony out of chaos, beauty out of a big mess (with very young children, the less said the better). Then sit for one minute meditating on the chaotic pile of branches, flowers, and clippers that have been placed in the middle of the circle. Now invite everyone to choose two branches that will represent heaven. These branches can be any kind of branch from a bush or tree, or wide, flat grasses. Once everyone has finished, ask them to choose items to represent the ground or earth element - it can be squares of moss, sizable flat rocks, a stretch of bark, wide and long leaves or even pine needles (these could float on the water, giving the illusion of solid ground). Finally, have them choose three flowers which will represent ‘heart' or the human element. After everyone has their supplies, you can demonstrate each step and then have them try. Begin by first cutting extraneous leaves and twigs off your heaven branches and then placing it into the wet foam or kenzan. Heaven branches ideally should be curving gracefully up toward the sky, drawing our eye toward the vastness of space. Explain that they should be about twice as tall as the opening of the bowl. You can help the children with placement, but the more they can do on their own, the better. Continue to clip away twigs, and even some of the leaves if necessary, to expose the basic elegance of the most interesting lines of the branch. Show how we are trying to create a feeling of clarity, simplicity and harmony — that when they look at their branch (and at their final arrangement) it should give a feeling of ahhh.... deep peace. Next, place the earth branches or pieces such that they cover the foam or kenzan and give a real feeling of ground. The solidity of the earth element should complement and balance the lightness of the heaven branches, but not overpower them. Finally, it is time to place the flowers, which join heaven and earth. If you are working with teens, you can explain that heaven is vision and inspiration, and earth is the fundamental material of this world, and our ‘heart' or human element, joins them together. With children it is best to keep it simple. You can say something like, "Bring heaven and earth together with the flowers, which represent the ‘heart'." That's enough - they'll get it! Show them how to place the flowers somewhere between heaven and earth - just so - not so high as to take attention away from the heaven branch, nor so low as to be hidden in the earth element. Now the fun part — find a special place for your arrangements. Help children to place their arrangement to its best advantage. Flower arranging is meant to be a regular meditation practice. Doing it once a week builds artistic skills, while settling the mind and emotions. I've also found this to be an amazingly effective way to cheer up an unhappy child. Mother nature is so soothing to the troubled soul and the feeling of creating harmony out of chaos has a pacifying effect on children of all ages. Supplies & Setup For more information on flower arranging for children, the book Ikebana is a great resource.
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