Eco-Printing 'Hapa Zome'

'Hapa Zome' means leaf dye and is the Japanese technique for printing leaves onto another texture. Children playing in the woods this week have had the opportunity to partake in this activity. Sarah has been taking Gardening Club for a number of weeks now and we have planted beautiful flowers and vegetables. Reading the poem 'Flowers' by Nicola Davies, we talked about garden sustainability and discussed why it's important that we pick only a few flowers leaving lots and lots for the pollinators. We used leaves and petals that had fallen and only picked some that needed pruning. It was interesting to observe the children design their arrangements. Some choosing repeating patterns, some grouped their petals by colour or size. This activity is rich in opportunity for children to express their ideas, talk through their designs using mathematical language and colour recognition.

The children held the different mallets discussing the differences in their size, shape, weight and what materials they were made from. "This is heavy and this one is heavy and this one." "This has got metal".

The children took it in turns to crush and squash the dye out of the plant matter. They used their Proprioceptive sense to learn about how much force their muscles needed and the position of their body. This activity is excellent for the children to develop muscle memory, gross motor skills, coordinating their arms and hand, the grip on the mallet and exercising their Vestibular sense to stay balanced and stable.

We are so delighted with the beautiful results we are planning to make a special surprise with the fabric!