The first of Helena’s spring flowers bloom in April and May (sometimes even late March). They always bring me so much joy because even if it’s still cool out, they are signs of hope and faith of warm weather ahead.
I’ve started doing wildflower hunts with our boys. We’ll have photos of the flowers and try to find them, checking them off when we do. Or sometimes we just pack up the wildflower book, and when we find a flower, we look it up and read about it. Below is a scavenger hunt for spring flowers found along Helena’s trails in mid-late May and June. I picked these flowers for the hunt for a couple of reasons: 1) most of them are plentiful; 2) they have fun names that kids can remember. Shooting stars and Pasque flowers are also great ones to add to the hunt, but they are starting to fade by the latter part of May. The list can be printed, downloaded as a .pdf, or just looked at with your phone.
Depending on your kids’ ages, the learning can be expanded beyond just identifying the flowers. Where do certain flowers bloom – in shadier areas or full sun? Do they close up during the day or at night? What kind of soils or micro-environments do they live in? Do you see a lot of bees gathering the nectar? Can you tell when the flowers seed out (see photo below of Pasque in bloom and seeded out)? When one flower dies, does another kind take its place (this question would have to be answered after hiking the same trail over the spring and summer months)?
Seeded out Pasque flower 
Pasque in full bloom
We have loved the Wildflowers of Montana book that covers flowers all over Montana. It is sorted by color, so it is very easy to find the flowers you’re looking for. But if you just want to find flowers in Helena, the Montana Discovery Foundation has a .pdf download available for free with local flowers listed and ways to identify them. They also have a stories page associated with several flowers that are fun to read with kids. Such a great resource!
Happy springtime and wildflower hunting!