How to properly make a herbarium from leaves. Herbarium

Creating a herbarium is a simple and fun activity. The leaves themselves have a unique charm and can be combined with flowers and incorporated into other interesting projects. The collected herbarium can also be a good teaching tool. Although drying leaves for herbarium is not at all difficult, a number of precautions must be taken to achieve the best results.

Steps

Identification and selection of leaves for herbarium

Learn to recognize poisonous plants before collecting leaves. For example, leaves of hogweed, sumac or wolfsbane can be a beautiful addition to a herbarium, but they can also cause an unpleasant skin reaction. If you want to include these leaves in your collection, be sure to use latex gloves when picking and drying them. The dried leaves will then need to be covered with transparent acrylic varnish so that they do not provoke a skin rash.

Collect leaves in sets from the youngest to the most mature leaves in the sap. If you take leaves that are too mature, they will be drier and their color will become faded.

The leaves can be harvested at any time during vegetative growth, but if you want them to look as green as possible, they should be harvested in the spring before hot summer weather sets in, which can damage the chlorophyll.

Choose leaves that are in good condition and free of stains, tears and damage from pests, as these imperfections will become even more noticeable after drying. On the other hand, carefully inspect leaves that have been chewed by insects. They can acquire a beautiful lacy structure with a naturally expressed partial or complete skeleton of veins. Such leaves can also be an excellent addition to a herbarium.
1. Make or buy a herbarium press. A press is a simple device made of wood, cardboard and thick paper with mounting bolts, weights or fastening straps. The idea of a herbarium press is to dry the leaves under pressure. You can look for such a press in a craft store, purchase it in an online store, or make it yourself.
  - The press manufacturing process is described below.
    - Buy two planks of plywood measuring approximately 20 cm by 30 cm and about 1 cm thick (or any other size that suits you). Typically, lumber stores can cut pieces to your measurements.
    - Drill holes for bolts in the corners of both planks. It is best to pre-mark the position of the holes so that they match when you align the boards on either side.
    - Insert the bolts into the four holes of one board, placing washers under their heads.
  - Cut pieces of clean cardboard and paper to size internal space press. They must be kept clean, so replace them as needed. If you have a rectangular press, then it is better to lay corrugated cardboard in channels along its short side to ensure increased air circulation.
2. Place the leaves under a press. For each layer of leaves in the press, you will need two pieces of cardboard and several sheets of absorbent paper of the appropriate size.
  - Place the bottom plate of the press on work surface. Place a piece of cardboard in the press, put paper on it, then leaves, another piece of paper and finally another piece of cardboard.
  - Repeat the procedure as many times as necessary. It is permissible to overlap leaves on top of each other only if they do not have pronounced veins. Do not allow the cuttings of some leaves to touch the surface of other leaves, as they leave behind unsightly marks. Cover the contents of the press with a second board and tighten the bolts with nuts and washers.
3. Remove the leaves from the press when they are dry. Check the condition of the leaves after a couple of weeks. Place your hand on the layer of paper covering the leaves; if it is cool to the touch, then the leaves have not yet dried. Close the press again to complete drying. IN in this case there is no need to change the paper to new one.
Drying leaves in a book
Microwave drying
1. Place the leaves in a press. Put the bottom ceramic tiles or cardboard on the work surface. Place a piece of cardboard and a couple of sheets of paper on top. Lay out the leaves on the paper, cover them with a couple of sheets of paper, a piece of cardboard and a top tile or press cardboard. Tie your abs with rubber bands.
  
  Dry the leaves. Place the filled press in the microwave and microwave for up to a minute on low power. Then remove the press and open it to release the steam. Once the press has cooled, close it again and return it to the microwave for 30 seconds. Continue heating the press for 30 seconds at a time, then opening and cooling until the leaves are dry. Be sure to ventilate and cool the press every time so you don't accidentally cook the leaves. You need to dry them flat. But cooking will never give the desired result.
- To ensure even pressure is applied to each sheet, you can place paper towels or napkins in the press. This is useful in cases where the leaves have uneven thickness and are very rich in moisture, for example, like hosta. But usually this is not required.
- You can use an old telephone directory as a press. If it is not there, it is permissible to take any book.
- The leaves of maple, ginkgo, fern, peony and iris look amazing in the herbarium. To make your collection more interesting, collect leaves various forms and sizes.
Warnings
- Be careful when picking leaves. Some of them can sting you or cause a rash, while others can be poisonous. Remember that the leaves of hogweed, sumac and wolf's bast are best left alone.
- Never microwave metal objects and always use oven mitts when removing a hot ceramic press from it.
- Respect the law. Do not collect plants from protected areas nature reserves, nurseries and national parks without permission. The easiest way is to ask the responsible personnel what can and cannot be done in such places. If there are no rare endangered plants in the area, you will most likely be allowed to collect a herbarium.
What you will need

Drying leaves under a wooden press
- Two identical plywood boards
- Drill
- 4 bolts with washers
- 4 wing nuts
- Cardboard
- Paper
Drying leaves in a book
- Big thick book
- Paper
- Heavy load
Microwave drying
- 2 ceramic tiles
- Rubber bands
- Cardboard
- Paper
- A heavy weight to place on top (such as books or a microwave-safe, airtight container of water)

Education and development junior schoolchildren recommended to be carried out in game form, as a result of such activities, the baby gets to know the world better. Herbarium for primary school, collected together with parents, is one of the ways to study environment. A walk with mom and dad in the park, leisure on fresh air, an exciting activity - all this benefits the child.

Preschoolers will be interested in collecting beautiful tree leaves, and older children can be asked to look for interesting plants by defining their names. The main helpers of the child are the parents, who would do well to find out about going to school. The success of this activity, which is simple at first glance, depends on how correctly the plants are collected and dried.

To make a herbarium for an elementary school, you need to arm yourself with scissors, a spatula or scoop, a bucket and gloves. A dry, windy day is the ideal time to collect and dig up plants that do not need to be wet to dry properly. Flowers and petals must be fresh and dried immediately after collection.

The classic way to prepare plants to be placed in a primary school herbarium is to use large quantity old newspapers that require frequent replacement, and press. Alternative option- place a flower or a twig in which to place between the pages of a thick book, which will not make the process less labor-intensive, since the pages will have to be changed as they become saturated with moisture.

Plants dry quickly if placed in special herbarium frames consisting of wire mesh and wooden base. The twigs or leaves are wrapped in newspaper sheets and inserted into frames that are tightly tied together.

Using an iron will speed up the process of preparing material for the herbarium. It is important not to overdry the plants so as not to make them too fragile.

Simplified, but effective way preparing leaves and flowers - use PVA glue, which is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:3. You need to dip a leaf or branch into the solution, let it sit for 10 minutes, then air dry. The plants will dry out and still retain their elasticity.

If the color of the herbarium blanks is not of fundamental importance, use a glycerin solution, for the preparation of which water is added in a 3:1 ratio. The plants will acquire a brown tint and special strength.

The final result of the work will depend on how to design the herbarium. It is more convenient to use a ready-made album, or you can glue it from sheets of whatman paper. Dried plants are glued with a drop of transparent glue or a thin strip of tape. When compiling a herbarium for an elementary school, be guided by only one main rule - be careful. Sign each copy using a label. You can determine the name, type and family of unfamiliar objects using an encyclopedia.

Compositions and paintings made from dried leaves and flowers look interesting, for the creation of which any plot provided by your imagination is suitable. This exciting activity will give you and your child a lot of positive emotions.

September is just around the corner, and it's very... good time in order to introduce your child to what a plant herbarium is. In dry scientific language, a herbarium is tutorial, in which plant samples with roots, leaves and fruits are collected. We invite you and your children to look at this activity from a different, creative angle. In this article, we will teach you how to make a herbarium yourself, and also give recommendations on collecting, drying and decorating the herbarium, so that the results of this work will delight your family for a long time!

DIY herbarium

So, how to make a herbarium with your own hands? The whole process can be divided into 3 stages:

collection of plants;
preparation for drying and the actual drying of plants;
design of the herbarium in the required form.

Our adventure begins with a preparatory moment - we recommend that you purchase a beautiful and entertaining encyclopedia about plants, in which your child will look for information about the plants and shrubs, the leaves and flowers of which he will collect.

Now let's start collecting. It is best to go for your finds to a forest or park on a fine sunny day at 11 am, when the dew has already dried, since wet leaves are much more difficult to dry, they are more fragile and difficult to further manipulate. Let your child collect everything he likes: leaves, flowers, buds, seeds, spikelets, inflorescences and petals, even roots! We are not creating a strict school herbarium, but an entertaining and exciting one! So prepare more bags for your plant “treasures”. Try to find several copies of the same plant materials in case of breakage or unsuccessful drying, as well as in order to arrange beautiful panel from paired decorative elements.

Having collected the material, you need to think about how to make a herbarium. Next stage- drying collected material. Regardless of which method you use, all found flower leaves need to be cleared of soil, damaged leaves should be removed, and the resulting elements should be thoroughly straightened so that they accept the required form for drying.

There are as many as 5 ways to dry plants for a herbarium! The easiest one is to purchase a clever special herbarium press from an artist's store or something like that. All subsequent methods are purely home methods. So, you can make a herbarium, armed with tablets, tracing paper, newspapers, parchment and a stack of books. To do this, you need to cover the table with newspaper, lay the plants on it, cover them with tracing paper or parchment paper on top, put planks on top of all this and pile stacks of heavy books on top of this structure. The entire drying process will take 1 - 2 weeks, but to speed it up, change the paper that covers the plants every 2-3 days. Be very careful not to damage your exhibits!

Second home method– the fastest and most dangerous is drying plants with an iron. However, this method is good if you do not need to preserve the natural color of the plants. Take a lukewarm iron and iron the leaves 3-4 times at intervals of several hours to prevent them from drying out.

The third method is similar to the second - microwave drying. The good thing is that everything happens quickly. The disadvantage is that the leaves almost always curl up, making them difficult to glue.

The fourth method is to dry the plants in glycerin, but be prepared for the fact that your plants will turn greenish-brown in color, but they will retain their shape perfectly. Buy glycerin at the pharmacy, dilute it in hot water in a ratio of 1:3, fill a container 6-10 cm with this solution, lower the plants strictly vertically and leave for several days until the plants darken, then air dry them.

There are a couple of tricks in making a herbarium:

To make the leaves denser, dip them in a 20% PVA glue solution before drying.
Flower buds are dried in sand poured into a box.
To preserve the leaves of dove-blue or of blue color, dip them in denatured alcohol for 1 minute.

How to design a herbarium

After the plants have dried, it's time to think about the creative question of how to design a herbarium? The answer to this depends on your goals. If you are making a herbarium for school, then most likely you have already been given strict rules, how to make a herbarium correctly, what should be in it and how all this should be decorated. We will talk to you about the design of your homemade products together with your child.

The traditional way of design is a herbarium album. In this form you will submit the herbarium for inspection at school. However, you can liven it up, for example, by making not an ordinary folder, but by decorating the herbarium in a photo album, making funny inscriptions with interesting facts about the collected plants, which your child will find in a pre-purchased encyclopedia. A photo album will not require any effort from you at all: you just need to put not photographs under the film, but dried plants and labels with signatures. Or you can combine the herbarium with a thematic photo album, you will get a real family heirloom!

If you want to do something traditional, but still unusual, we suggest you a folding book. In this case, the herbarium sheet is drawn up in accordance with standard requirements: the exhibit is located in the middle of the sheet, and the name of the plant and the family to which it belongs, information about the place and time of collection of the plant is written in the lower right corner. For a change, write down the medicinal properties of the plant that you know.

It will be very beautiful if you do it yourself decorative panel or bookmarks using your dried plants. Take cardboard, fabric, or canvas glued to cardboard. And give free rein to your imagination! To make such a panel you will need regular PVA glue, paints, brushes, etc. After you have pasted your application, it should be left for 24 hours under a press of boards and books, and then you can insert the masterpiece into a frame.

You can also use dried plants to decorate greeting cards, covers of notebooks, notepads, books, and photo albums. And remember that in a herbarium the main thing is the process! So arm yourself good mood, scoop, bags - and forward to nature. A good day with your children is guaranteed!

The problem of preserving biodiversity, recognized by the world community at the end of the 20th century as one of the main factors for the survival and sustainability of human development, is closely related to the preservation and creation of natural historical collections, in particular herbariums, which are one of the most important and irreplaceable sources of obtaining reliable and practically inexhaustible information. Herbarium collections that meet the basic criteria of scientific collections are the national treasure of the state (Pavlinov, Rossolimo, 1992). Russia, by the way, has one of the best and most expensive collections of plants in the world. It was collected by N. I. Vavilov and employees scientific institute, which he led until his arrest and repression in 1940.

There are many different museums in the world, but there are unusual ones - museums of dry plants. These are herbariums. In past centuries, it was no coincidence that the authors called the herbarium “hortus siccus” - literally “dry garden”. This emphasized the importance of the collection of dried plants as a necessary addition to the collections of living plants cultivated in gardens. As a place of concentration of collections, the herbarium is a true museum - a museum special type. There are no exhibition halls for viewing here; all materials are stored in special herbarium cabinets, folded into cardboard folders and mounted on cardboard sheets. Exhibition halls with exhibits flora exist in special botanical museums.

Herbarium specimens- these are necessary, constantly used reference documents for research in different sections of botany (systematics wild plants, botanical geography, geobotany). A herbarium sheet with a precisely identified plant serves as a standard for identifying plants collected research assistants, students, graduate students, local historians, botanists. This is a textbook for future herbalists, pharmacists, all medical workers and more - healers and all those who want to be treated with plants should know herbs from A to Z.

is a botanical collection of dried plants, decorated and labeled. Translated from Latin, the word “herbarium” means “herbalist”. The herbarium, however, may contain both flowers and tree leaves.

To study the diversity of forms and modifications of organs in plants, a morphological herbarium is collected. By economic characteristics select thematic herbariums, for example “ weeds», « medicinal plants" Plants from your region or region will form a floristic herbarium. If plants are located in a certain system according to genera, botanical families, etc., then such a herbarium is called systematic.

With proper maintenance, the herbarium can be stored for centuries without losing color or breaking.

Many aristocrats were fond of collecting and drying flowers and herbs. Thus, herbariums were collected by members of the family of the famous singer Polina Viardot, Natalya Goncharova, the wife of A.S. Pushkin, dried field herbs from her garden - her herbarium is kept in the St. Petersburg house-museum of A.S. Pushkin.

And yet, why do we need a herbarium?

The herbarium stores reference material and contains samples for determining comparative method(a picture in a book and even a color photo may be less reliable) serves as a standard for correct scientific names. Observing plants in nature, collecting them and compiling a herbarium is, among other things, a fruitful and fascinating way to get acquainted with the plant kingdom. Without herbarium collections, plant taxonomy is impossible.

How to properly collect plants for a herbarium?

You will need:

herbarium folder for transferring collected plants;
stock of paper (2 sheets of thick cardboard or plywood measuring 45x35 cm with two ribbons threaded into the slits for tightening ( Lately It has become a practice to collect plants for the herbarium in large bags, which makes it possible to bring them to the public. the premises are fresher, and this makes subsequent loading into the press easier);
a supply of paper for drying plants, if possible unglued, porous (filter paper, newspaper);
tools for digging and cutting plants;
labels;
herbarium press consisting of two metal or wooden frames covered with mesh.

What rules should be followed when collecting plants?

Plants for the herbarium are collected in dry weather: after rain or dew, the plants dry poorly and may turn black;

healthy, undamaged specimens with all aboveground and underground organs are selected (this is due to the peculiarities of plant definitions according to morphological characteristics);

herbaceous plants, exceeding the size of the folder, bend 2-3 times. From very large plants they take: the upper part with flowers and leaves, the middle part with leaves, the lower part with basal leaves. Shoots are cut from trees and bushes with leaves, flowers and fruits: (if any); plants of the same species are placed in a “shirt”; take 1-2 large plants, small ones - up to 10 or more (to fill the sheet);

plants are dug up, freed from soil, thick stems, rhizomes and roots are cut in half lengthwise;

To place a plant in a folder, it should be placed on a flat surface;

When placing it in a folder, you need to straighten the plant and give it the shape in which you will later mount it. Do not tear off anything, especially the lower leaves. If the plant has many leaves that overlap each other, then some of the leaves can be removed, while retaining the petioles for a true representation of the arrangement of the leaves. When preparing the plant for installation, some of the leaves are unrolled bottom side so that you can consider the nature of the pubescence or other features of the leaf. This is done with part of the flowers (inflorescences);

In the “shirt” with the plant, put a draft label on which you must indicate: the name of the plant (if the plant is unknown, then you can assign it a number or give it a conventional name), the place where the plant was collected (region, district, nearest locality), plant habitat (meadow, forest, steppe), date of collection, by whom the plant was collected and identified, in which communities and how often this type meets.

It is necessary to know which species are protected and not to dig them up unless absolutely necessary. You can get acquainted with such plants at the place where they grow.

How to properly dry plants?

The collected plants must be placed in a herbarium press for drying. To do this, they are taken out of the folder along with the sheet on which they are placed (“shirt”) and transferred to the press, interspersed with additional sheets of paper - spacers. Plants should be straightened so that individual parts do not overlap each other. If this is not possible, place paper between the overlapping organs. Plants should not protrude beyond the paper.

There must be a label along with the plant. To speed up the drying of succulent plants (for example, orchids), they are scalded with boiling water without immersing the flowers in water. U bulbous plants cut the onion lengthwise, which is also scalded.

A stack consisting of herbarium “shirts” (sheets with plants) and spacers is placed between the halves of the press and tightened tightly. Up to 50 sheets of plants can be placed in one press.

The press is dried in the sun, making sure to bring it indoors at night. Wet pads are replaced with dry ones daily (for aquatic plants- 2 times a day).

A properly dried plant becomes fragile, its leaves and flowers do not sag. When applied to the lips, it does not cause a feeling of cold.

How to properly install a herbarium?

The plant mounted on the herbarium sheet should give a true idea of the era's morphology. In this regard, when designing a herbarium, it is necessary to adhere to a number of rules:

plants dried in botanical presses are mounted on a herbarium sheet made of thin white cardboard or thick white paper measuring 42x28 cm (A3 format). One or more are placed on one herbarium sheet (in the case of small sizes) specimens of plants of the same species;

A 10x8 cm label is glued to the lower right corner of the herbarium sheet. Write on the label in legible handwriting using black ink. Transfer information to the label from the draft label. A herbarium without a label has no value;

for installation, the most successful specimens are selected, with flowers and fruits, without damaged organs (unless this is a herbarium of damage);

the plant is placed on the leaf so that the underground organs are directed downward. If the specimen is large, it can be broken in several places and secured in this form;

the plant is sewn on with white or green threads. First, the underground organs are secured, then the stem, leaf petioles, inflorescence axis, and pedicels;

With bottom side the herbarium sheet should not have wide stitches; tie the knots tightly with front side on the plant;

After this, take the herbarium sheet in your hands and slightly bend it or turn it over with the plant facing down. Glue the parts of the plant that are lagging behind the sheet of paper using paper “straws” (stripes of tracing paper 1.5-2 mm wide);

If necessary, “dress” the inflorescence or flower in an envelope made of tracing paper. The fruits can be placed in a special envelope, which is glued to the same sheet.

Attention! When mounting the herbarium, use PVA glue or starch paste.

Label ink must be waterproof.

How to store a herbarium?

Dried plants are very hygroscopic and quickly deteriorate from moisture, so herbarium specimens should be stored in a dry, bright and ventilated room in tightly closed cabinets. Herbariums often suffer from insects. There are many ways to combat them: treating collections with insecticides, deep freezing, heating, etc. All pest control methods require some preparation and certain conditions.

V.F. Korsun, B.A. Sultanbekov, E.V. Korsun.

October is perhaps the most beautiful autumn month, because the trees are covered with bright foliage, which, when falling, forms a gorgeous colorful carpet. You can simply enjoy it while walking through the park, breathing in the fresh, albeit cool air, or you can use your imagination and make an excellent herbarium. This is especially true for mothers and grandmothers who spend a lot of time with their children outside. In this article we will tell you all the secrets that relate to collecting a herbarium, its design and preparation.

First, let's figure out what a herbarium is. A herbarium is a collection of different plants in dried form. People began drying leaves and herbs as early as the 16th century. They did this to a greater extent medicinal purposes. With the development of science, especially in such fields as botany and natural science, researchers began to engage in herbarium for scientific purposes. For the same purposes, in kindergartens and schools, children are encouraged to collect and dry different plants.

You can make one of these types of herbariums with your child:

Special - collect exactly those plants that are studied at school or in kindergarten.
Systematic - collect different plants and arrange them in alphabetical order.
Thematic herbarium - collect plants only certain type(flowers, trees, shrubs, grass).
Floristic herbarium - collect different types plants that grow only in a certain area.
A periodical is a herbarium that is collected according to botanical families.

To collect a herbarium, you need to strictly follow certain rules:

Collect plants only in dry weather, not after rain. Be sure to take fallen leaves, but without rot or damage that could be caused by fungi or insects.
If you want to dry a small plant, you can dig it up with its root system. Only in this case, stock up on a bag in which you will carefully pack the rhizome.
If you are making a collection of shrubs, then in addition to the leaf, you also need to pick the flower and the fruit.
Collect several of each plant so you have a supply. The leaves are quite fragile and may be damaged during transportation.
All plants that have a fairly thick stem should be cut in half so that they do not become deformed when drying.
Do not place plants of different types on the same sheet.
Do not break off branches - be sure to use a knife for this purpose.
You should not pick individual leaves - cut the whole branch so that the child can see how the leaves are located on it.

When you go to a forest or park to collect plants or foliage, take with you an old magazine or a special album in which you will put all natural material. This is the only way you can keep them in their original form and not damage them.

If collecting a herbarium for you and your child is not just entertainment, but a whole educational event, then we recommend taking into account the following recommendations:

Write down the name of the area in which you collected the herbarium, indicate on what soil the plant grows.
Take a photo of the area where you found the plant.

By collecting a herbarium, you can instill in your child a love of science, nature, and knowledge of the world around him. Therefore, be sure to find time in your busy schedule to collect and dry plants in the fall with your child.

What kind of album is needed for a herbarium

In any arts and crafts store you will find a special album in which you can collect a herbarium. It is made from special paper, which is used for drying plants so that they simply give up all their moisture, but do not wither or rot. This album usually looks like this:

But you don’t have to spend money to make storage for your plant collection. You can make an album for the herbarium yourself. We offer several options on how to do this:

Take any paper (printed, newspaper, packaging, stationery, or even porous cardboard). Sew them together or staple them together. You will end up with an album no worse than a special one. In the end, you can buy a regular sketchbook. For a child visiting kindergarten ik, I will like this option the most because it is understandable.
You can sew several pieces of fabric together if you have special skills. With a cotton base, the leaves store very well.
Purchase office file binders. Of course, you will also have to spend a little money here, but such a purchase will be less expensive than a specialized herbarium album.

Previously, we used thick art books, which had already become unusable, to store the herbarium. You can follow the same example, but such a collection does not look very aesthetically pleasing, and there is no need to spoil the literature.

Herbarium sample, photo

You can make a paper album with envelopes from parchment paper. As you can see, the author glued the collected plants onto thick paper and made different signatures from other pieces of paper. I made a special envelope from parchment paper that covers the plant so that it does not wrinkle or come into contact with other species.

This is an option that we have already mentioned. There is nothing complicated here - just carefully put dried plants into the files. You can also put a sheet of paper under them for strength, on which you can write inscriptions if desired.

Here is an ordinary album or notebook in which the author carefully glued a sample of a plant and next to it signed in calligraphic handwriting where he found this plant and what it is called. Brief botanical descriptions may also be provided.

How to dry leaves for a herbarium

There are several ways to dry (or press) plants for herbarium:

You can build a special press from 2 thick boards:

find 2 boards of the same size and thickness;
on one place place a sheet of paper on which carefully lay out the herbarium;
cover the herbarium with another sheet of paper, and cover it with a second board on top;
screw the boards together with screws on 4 sides.

Important! If you dry the plants in this way, then you need to change the paper every 3 days, otherwise the leaves will rot, since the paper will absorb all the moisture from them. With this method, the plants will dry completely within a month.

You can use an iron to dry the herbarium. The drying process occurs as follows:

place the leaves on paper and cover them with the same paper on top, then place such a blank under a press (under a thick book, for example) and leave for several hours so that the plant is leveled;
turn off all functions on the iron that are responsible for releasing steam, let the device heat up to minimum temperature for ironing (must be gentle);
Place the smooth herbarium in paper on the ironing iron, press it with an iron for 15 seconds (do not iron it under any circumstances - just press it down);
After 20 seconds, repeat the above step as many times as you need to until the plant is completely dry.

Important! Keep in mind that when drying a plant in this way, it may change its color due to exposure to temperature.

You can dry plants between thick books:

put this blank in the middle of a thick book, and then put several more of the same publications on top of this book;
change the paper every 3-4 days so that the plant does not begin the process of rotting, and the book in which it is dried does not become damp.

Important! Due to this drying method, the plant may dry unevenly.

You can dry the herbarium in the microwave:

place the leaves on the paper and cover them with the same paper on top;
put this blank in the middle of a thick book, and then put another book on top of this book (tie them with an elastic band or rope);
place the books in the microwave for 60 seconds (after 1 minute, repeat the entire procedure);
place the prepared blank under the press for 3 days, and the herbarium will be ready.

How to design a herbarium sheet

After the plant is dried, it must be properly decorated. Remember that after drying, the leaves become very fragile and can crumble right in your hands. If a child works with such material, it will be difficult for him to do anything. Therefore, we recommend dipping the dried herbarium into a solution of PVA glue. It is prepared like this: 5 tbsp. glue mixed with 1 tbsp. water. Within 24 hours after soaking the herbarium in glue, it will dry out. By the way, instead of PVA, you can use decoupage glue.

If you use this method of strengthening plants, then you will need to glue them into the album using dry glue.

If you use the herbarium unchanged, then it is quite acceptable to sew each species with small stitches to thick paper or fabric.

Important! Whatever design method you choose, remember that your collection should be durable, so follow a few important rules:

Place the plant on a sheet of paper so that its massive part is on the side that you will grab to, for example, turn the sheet over.
If you are making a decorative composition, then carefully consider where and how each leaf should be located. You must show all its winning sides.
Make your signatures after you have already attached the herbarium. They cannot occupy the main part of the sheet. Leave a space on the side for signatures.

How to sign a herbarium

As we already mentioned, inscriptions can be made directly on paper. This option is more suitable for a child who already knows how to write well - for a schoolchild. It will be more interesting for a preschooler to write on special labels bright color. He can write down on them everything he knows about the plant he found and dried.

If the child does not know how to write, then help him make an inscription or print it out necessary information so that everything looks aesthetically pleasing.

What information should be indicated on the herbarium label:

Name of the plant.
The botanical family to which the plant belongs.
Place and time of collection of this plant.
What medicinal properties this plant has.
Which Interesting Facts you know about him (it could be a legend, a parable).

It is better to place signatures in bottom corners, but here rely more on your child’s preferences. He himself must determine on which side, according to his creative idea, the inscription should be located.

Herbarium title page design

The cover of the album in which the herbarium will be stored must be made bright and eye-catching. To do this, you can decorate it with colored paper, dried leaves, or simply decorate it beautifully with felt-tip pens or paints. But, besides this, you need to indicate some information on the title page:

The name of the album or herbarium collection. For example, if a child made a herbarium for the first time in his life, you can call it “My first herbarium.”
Next is the name and surname of the performer.
The exact date when the album was released.

You can make it beautiful title page on a computer using a text program Microsoft Word.

Examples of title pages that can be obtained are attached below for you:

Templates for herbarium

If you have never encountered creating a herbarium before, but want to do something truly useful and beautiful with your child, then use the templates below as an example of how everything can be beautifully and competently designed:

Herbarium of leaves for the garden, detailed description and photo

While a child is in kindergarten, it is unlikely that he will be able to make an entire album on his own. Your task is to help him collect, dry the leaves and plants he likes, and then arrange them. The easiest way is to use a folder and files:

To begin, collect natural material, dry it using any of the methods suggested in this article, and then place it in files for temporary storage until you create a herbarium album:

For one piece of paper, set aside an entire album spread. On one side, glue it to a sheet of white paper, and on the other side, insert a printout with detailed description plants. Here you can also insert tales about the plant, riddles and poems:

Leaves that will not be included in the herbarium can be put into a file and used in lessons visual arts– glue leaves to drawings on the theme “Autumn”, or create appliqués:

Herbarium of leaves for school, detailed description and photo

Here we also suggest that you arrange your herbarium in a folder with files, only the technique for making such an album will be more complex:

Prepare required material for work:

white A4 sheets according to the number of plants that you will arrange in the herbarium album;
white cardboard (according to the number of plants);
stripes corrugated cardboard(length 12 cm, width – 4 cm) – according to the number of sheets that will be used;
office files by number of sheets;
PVA glue and dry glue;
needle and thread;
scissors with hole punch;
thick thread and a bright felt-tip pen (you can use a marker).

Take a sheet of plain paper, spread one plant on it and make a few stitches to secure it to the sheet (color the threads in the color of the sheet with a felt-tip pen). Glue the leaves to the paper with dry glue:

Glue a sheet of paper with a plant onto the cardboard. To do this, the cardboard must be coated with PVA:

Cut the file into 2 parts - you should get 2 identical halves:

Attach one part to the sheet with the herbarium, on the right side vertically attach a piece of corrugated cardboard:
We create a title page. In this case, we also did it on a computer in a graphics editor. First, we found several photos of plants, then made a collage out of them, into which we harmoniously inserted an inscription with information about the herbarium topic and the name of the artist:

You can make any other title page you want.

Herbarium in frame, photo

A herbarium framed under glass looks very nice. You will get an exquisite painting from natural materials, which will perfectly complement any home interior.

A herbarium is a fun activity that helps develop creativity and imagination not only in children. In adults, too, in the process of creating a herbarium, creativity is activated, inspiration and even relaxation come! So don’t miss the moment - go to the forest for natural materials!

How to properly make a herbarium from leaves. Herbarium – the lasting beauty of nature...