Nature Crafts for Kids

Turn your outdoor adventures into artistic expressions with these great nature crafts!

Nature Prints

When you and your child are in the great outdoors, take along a bag to collect some natural artifacts, such as pine cones and needles, leaves, feathers, rocks, grasses, etc. (make sure you don't pick or take anything living!). When you return home, make prints using these natural objects with tempera or acrylic paint. Or try using plain t-shirts as your canvas and making the prints with fabric paints.

Critters

Collect the following materials on your next hike - maple tree seeds, acorns, pine cones, sticks or twigs, leaves, seeds, etc. Use these materials and a little glue to make various critters. For example:

• Dragonflies. Glue two maple tree seeds towards one end of a stick that's about 3" long. Then glue two small seeds to make eyes. Then glue a magnet to the back of the dragonfly and stick it to your fridge! Or hang it using fishing wire.
• Mice. Pine cones are the perfect shape for these little critters. Simply cut mouse ears and a nose from construction paper or felt, use googly eyes and some wool for a tail and glue them onto the pine cone to create your little rodent.

For more activities, please check out The Jumbo Book of Nature Science by Pamela Hickman published by Kids Can Press.

By Rochelle Strauss