Juliette Green examines Julie Warburton’s book on teaching with flowers. This is a colourful, chunky handbook full of practical and innovative ideas for using flowers across the curriculum. Julie Warburton is a former teacher and educational consultant and this comes across through the strong curriculum links and the easy-to-follow teaching ideas. She subsequently retrained as a florist and the book represents ‘the cross-pollination of her two passions: education and flowers’. The book is aimed at teachers of 9 to 12 year olds, but I would say that many of the ideas could be adapted for younger or older pupils. The book is part of a series ‘introduced’ by Mick Waters, former director of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and one of NAEE’s Vice Presidents. In his introduction, he recalls a series of assemblies which used an amaryllis as an analogy for potential, nurturing and development of children. This gives a clear example of how flowers can be used to teach a range of subjects, topics and concepts. As a teacher, I would probably adapt some of the activities (e.g. ‘Mask Your Feelings’ on page 70, ‘Nature’s Colour Wheel’ on page 44 and ‘Peace Wreath’ page 74) to make them relevant to the local environment. Also, I would like to have seen mention of how we should explain to children the
importance of not picking wildflowers (as it’s illegal) or garden flowers (without permission) in order to make their own arrangements. All in all, I found this book to be an interesting and novel approach to teaching and learning. Mick Waters Introduces: Teaching with Flowers for a Blooming Curriculum Julie Warburton; ISBN: 978-178135126-0; Crown House Publishing, 2014; pp 200; £20.00; available from: www.independentthinkingpress.com