Moon Wishes

“Most of the dandelions had changed from suns into moons.”

Vladimir Nabokov

I love sharing the magic of nature with my two young grandsons. And what’s more magical than the ordinary, often maligned, jagged-leaved weed whose name is derived from the French dent de lion, or “lion’s tooth”?

The bright sun of a dandelion quickly changes to a full, fluffy moon within a matter of days. That’s when things get downright whimsical. Really, who can resist making a wish and blowing a “puffball” clean to its button stem? It’s said that a single blossom’s 150-200 seeds—each one equipped with its own lovely starburst-shaped parachute—can travel up to five miles before landing.

I was delighted to find this fun hands-on activity—a Dandelion Wish Luminary—from Little Pine Learners. 

Five-year-old Boone was eager to begin searching for puffballs in a nearby field. Though some dandelions were still in their flowering stages, there was also an abundance of bobbing white heads. This offered him a chance to explore the life cycle of the dandelion, as there were plenty of examples of each stage of development to examine.

Boone quickly discovered just how easily a dandelion’s delicate seeds become airborne as he raced over to show me his latest find. The only other hard part of this project was coming up with new wishes for his puffballs as we gently placed each one into his jar. “I have wishes, but I don’t want to tell you all of them,” he said. 

No worries, Boone. There was nothing more that I could wish either as the sun set, the moon came out, and we lit his lantern on this luminous spring evening.

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.”

Rachel Carson