Sunflowers are planted in
May in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska,
Texas and California. Sunflowers grow quickly and are in full bloom in 120
days. Sunflowers turn to follow the sun until the bloom. So they
are named for their trait to follow the sun and they resemble a shining sun.
Sunflowers grow deep roots as deep as nine feet. By fall sunflowers
are dried and turn brown. Then they are ready to harvest. There
are two kinds of sunflower seeds striped and black. Black seeds are
pressed to make oils or fed to birds. Striped seeds are used for snacks and
foods for humans.
Banana
Sunflower Seed Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup oil
2 medium bananas, very ripe
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cup flour
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 tsp baking soda
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and mash bananas.
In large bowl, beat oil, bananas, and sugar. Mix flour with sunflower seeds
and soda. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture and stir until thoroughly
mixed. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto
ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 15 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
Yield: about 3 dozen cookies
Sunflower
Kernels Crunch Balls
Ingredients
12 oz milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup salted, roasted sunflower kernels
1 cup of chow mien noodles
Instructions
Melt chocolate chips, stir in noodles and kernels.
Drop and cool on waxed paper. Yield about 24
I
Sunflower Activities
Activity 1: Invite your children
to paint the centers of paper plates brown and the rims yellow. When the
paint has dried, give them sunflower seeds to
glue onto their flower centers.
Activity
2: Cut the centers out of paper
plates. Give your children yellow paper petal shapes to glue around the
plate rims to create "sunflower masks." Staple a jumbo craft stick handle to
the bottom of each mask. Have the children hold their masks so that their
faces show through the open centers.
Activity 3: Explain that some sunflower stalks grow to be 7 feet tall. Vertically tape a 7-foot piece of green yarn to a wall. Let your children take turns standing next to it and comparing their height to the pretend sunflower stalk.
Activity 4:
Make paper sunflowers that are the same height as your children
and tape them along a wall. Label the flowers with the children's names. Use
the sunflowers to talk about "taller" and "shorter."
Activity 5: Explain that sunflowers growing outdoors turn their faces from east to west each day as the sun moves across the sky. During the night, they turn their faces back again. Let your children act this out. Have them take turns being the Sun moving across the pretend sky as the "Sunflowers" follow the Sun's movements with their faces.
