Hey everyone, welcome to this week’s Fridays with a Ranger!
I’m Ranger Shannon with Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail, and thanks for joining me.
Usually, you’d find me at the Visitor Center
in Omaha, Nebraska for today’s video, but
in order to stay safe and healthy, I’m sitting
here at my kitchen table.
Now, I’ve cleared everything off my table
because for today’s activity, I’m going
to explain how to do a fun craft and you need
a clean, flat surface to do it.
Today, we’re going to be making plant presses!
When we’re done with this activity, we’re
going to get beautifully dried out flowers
and leaves that you can use for all kinds
of fun crafts.
During the Lewis and Clark expedition from
1803 to 1806, Captain Meriwether Lewis used
a plant press to preserve, or keep, many of
the new types of plants that he discovered
along the journey so he could send them back
to President Thomas Jefferson.
To prepare for this task, Lewis studied Botany,
which is the study of plants for science.
Shown on the screen is a black and white sketched
image of Meriwether Lewis’s hands and wrists
as he writes notes on a piece of paper about
a shrub specimen, or sample, at Fort Clatsop.
In one hand, he is holding a quill pen and
in the other, a shrub.
On the expedition, Lewis and his crew found
174 species of plants that were new to science.
Shown on the screen is a black and white sketched
image of the leaves and fruits of the Pacific
blackberry bush.
However, most of these plants weren’t necessarily
new; they were already well known and had
traditional uses for the American Indians.
Shown on the screen is a black and white sketched
image of five American Indians building a
canoe out of bark from birch trees in a wooded
area.
You can still see many of the plants that
they found today at the Lewis and Clark Digital
Herbarium.
Check out the link in the description box
for this video.
Shown on the screen is a black and white sketched
image of the leaves and cones of the red alder
tree.
Have you ever discovered something new?
What was it, and what did you do to keep it
safe so you could share it with others?
Let us know in the comments section down below!
Before we get started, I’m going to explain
a few things we need to make our plant press.
[Acoustic guitar plays] First, you need a
plant.
You could use a leaf, a flower, or both.
The plant should be freshly picked.
Now, I have a couple examples of plants that
I will use.
First, I have a houseplant from inside my
home.
To take leaves off to use for your press,
use your thumb and index finger to gently
pinch off the leaf without damaging the plant.
Make sure you ask an adult in your home for
permission before using any houseplants, and
ask for help to pinch off the leaves that
you want to use for your press.
Next, I have some daffodils that I picked
from my front yard.
Here’s some flowers that I already pinched
off.
Again, to remove the flower from the stem,
use your thumb and index finger to gently
pinch off the flower without damaging the
plant.
Only go outside if it’s safe for you to
do so, and remember to stay 6 feet away from
others, avoid touching your face, and wash
your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water
when you go back inside.
Next, you need some heavy books.
I have four books that I picked out of my
library.
They’re each about an inch thick.
The books you use need to be big enough to
cover all the plants that you are pressing
and heavy enough to push the plants down flat.
Make sure you have an adult help you to lift
heavy objects so you don’t hurt yourself.
Now, you need some cardboard.
I have three pieces here, but I'm actually
going to use four.
The cardboard needs to cover the plants that
you’re pressing.
Have an adult help cut some for you to use.
Finally, you need some newspaper.
I have three sheets of newspaper that I got
from my mail.
Each sheet is an entire page folded in half.
If you don’t have any newspaper, you can
use another type of paper, such as construction
paper or sketchbook paper.
It just needs to be able to absorb the water
from the plant.
Now, you may not need as many layers of cardboard,
newspaper, or as many books as I'm using.
It really just depends how many plants you're
using and how wet your plants are.
So, I’m just using some extra layers more
for added security just to make sure that
all the water gets absorbed out of my plants.
Okay, now that we have all of our supplies
ready, let’s get to work on putting together
our plant press!
So the way we're going to put this together
is kind of like a layer cake.
We're going to have even layers of alternating
materials with our plants in the middle and
our books on the top and bottom.
So, to start with the bottom layer, we're
going to use two of our books.
Next, I'm going to do a piece of cardboard.
Next, a piece of newspaper.
Next, another piece of cardboard.
Next, another piece of newspaper and this
is where our plants are going to go, so I'm
going to open this up and I'm just going to
lay my plants down like this.
You can lay them however you want, you could
put some to the side or you could put some
straight up and down.
They're each going to dry differently, so
it's kind of fun to experiment on what you
want to do.
I'm going to put my leaves, and you just want
to make sure that these are on the surface
of the cardboard and under the books.
So I'm just going to close this and then I'm
going to press down lightly so they don't
move.
Now I'm going to put another piece of cardboard,
my last piece of newspaper, my last piece
of cardboard, and my final two books on top.
And there's our completed plant press!
Now, ours are all going to look different
because I'm sure you're all using different
sized books and different pieces of paper
and different amounts of plants, different
types of plants, but that's what kind of makes
it fun, is they're all going to be different.
So, now what we're going to do with our plant
press is I'm just going to take mine and I'm
going to put it in a safe space and we're
going to let this sit for seven days or one
week, okay?
Just to make sure that there's enough time
for all the water to dry out of our plants.
So, find a safe space to put yours and then
we are going to check back in a week and see
what they look like!
Hi everyone!
So it's been seven days or one week, and now
I'm going to show you how to take this apart
carefully so you don't damage your plants.
[Acoustic guitar plays] To take out our plants,
remove the books and other layers from the
newspaper with the plants inside.
Then, gently open up the sheet of newspaper.
The plants may have gotten stuck to the paper
when the water got absorbed, so gently peel
them off so you don't rip them.
A helpful way to remove your plants is to
take the piece of newspaper and gently bend
it away from the dried plant and peel the
plant off like you're peeling a sticker.
Have an adult help you if you're having trouble.
Ok, so here's my dried out plants from my
plant press.
My flowers turned out really well, they're
nice and dry and crispy, almost like a paper.
So these will be really good to use for some
crafts.
My leaves, unfortunately, they didn't turn
out as well.
The plant I used was a little bit waxy so
there's still kind of rubbery and it seems
like the moisture didn't get absorbed all
the way.
I think it's probably just because I didn't
use the right kind of leaf, you usually want
to use something that's going to dry out more
crispy.
However, it's all about experimenting, so
we tried, and now I know not to use a leaf
like this.
So, remember, if your plants don't turn out
right the first time, you can just try again
with different plants and then see what works
for you.
So, you can use these plants for all kinds
of fun crafts and activities.
I could take these and I could put them on
a card for someone, I could put them in a
picture frame and hang them up for decoration,
I could just lay them on a table for decoration.
You could do a painting with them, you could
do collaging.
Another fun activity you could do is you could
even make sort of a plant journal and dry
out different types of plants and put them
in your journal and then write about them.
So you could write where you found them and
what kind of observations you made about them,
just like Captain Meriwether Lewis.
Thank you so much for joining me for this
week's episode.
I had so much fun making this craft with all
of you!
Again, I'm Ranger Shannon with Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail, and be sure to tune
in next week for another episode of Fridays
with a Ranger.
Bye everyone, stay safe!
