Some dandy things to do with dandelions

Lisa from 5 Orange Potatoes and her kids seem to think dandelions are quite dandy...for weeds. In fact she's dedicated an entire section on her blog to dandelion projects. Among her posts you'll find art projects, recipes and links to information on these yellow plants.

We have a good supply of dandelions in our yard and I can't wait to try a few of Lisa's projects with my kids, especially this fun dandelion seed activity and this idea for using dandelions as paint brushes and stampsrecipe for making such jelly stating, "The dandelion jelly has a sweet honey taste." The how-to is full of clear directions, pictures and helpful hints and substitutions for making your very own gelatinous concoction. She's also posted recipes for whipping up cookies and syrup from dandelions.

I appreciate how Lisa is teaching her kids to respect and appreciate nature and all of it's living things, even the ones we often overlook. The tutorials are worth checking out and are useful/artful activities to do with this weed that's seen as a nuisance to many gardeners.