Dried Orange Garlands
Dried citrus garlands are easy to make, look and smell beautiful and are a great project for kids to help with. Click the image below to download and print! Citrus GarlandDownload
Make Twig Stars
Make some easy stick stars one of two ways. Big ones can be used to decorate the house and small ones can be ornaments or gift toppers. You cab leave them plain or dress them up with other natural materials. Twig stars are an easy nature craft for all ages that look rustic and elegant. Twig Stars Materials: twigs twine pretty greens and other natural materials (optional) Method: Cut or break your things into 5 pieces of approximately the same length. Lay them out in a 5 pointed star shape and tie the joints with twine. Add a loop of twine to the top if using as an ornament. Add greens or dried flowers for decoration as desired. Willow Stars These will really only work with willow branches, you bend…
Naturally Scented Cinnamon Pine Cones
I always look forward to those cinnamon pine cones that find their way to grocery store checkouts and craft stores this time of year. Even though they are extremely artificial, I kind of love them. So I decided to make my own with natural essential oils and ground cinnamon. They smell even better and are simple to make. Use teh recipe below to make a big batch or just sprinkle some essential oil on a few! I actually used to sell these back in the day. Materials: pinecones cinnamon essential oil clove essential oil cheap ground cinnamon water freezer bag Method: Place your pinecones in a freezer bag and pour in just enough water to cover/ soak them. Start sprinkling in the essential oils-- I don't measure, just enough that…
Snow or Mud Faces
Here is an easy activity for a winter day-- make snow or mud faces on trees! Collect some natural materials: sticks, pinecones, berries, leaves etc, and find a tree to make a face on! Pack your mud or snow on first and then use your nature finds to embellish the face. Easy and fun! Wet snowball type snow will work best, and if there isn't any snow where you live live will do the job too! You can think about what the spirit of the tree might look like or just make a funny face,
Winter Nature Table
Craft Project, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Nature Table, Play, Seasonal Nature Table, Winter, Winter Solstice
Nature tables are the perfect place to store and display all those nature finds that we "just had to bring home." Honestly I am almost as bad as the kids about this... Ours is on our porch so that things can be easily added and subtracted at will and we change it out for each season. (And it substantially reduces the stray sticks in the house..) In winter, we add obvious things like holly and evergreens, but also sticks covered in lichen, crystal-y rocks, found bits of nuts, pinecones and a prized deer antler. Log slices and old shelves and add some height and you can use vases to hold the greens. The kids are always tinkering with the arrangement and moving things around which is great. This is actually…
Hand Rolled Herbal Beeswax Candles– Guest Blogger!
A huge thank you to Harmonie O'Loughlin for today's guest post!! Check out her beautiful sites Flora's Feast Botanicals and Plant Wonder Collective and her IG feed here. She is sharing her hand rolled herbal beeswax candles with us-- take it away Harmonie! Making DIY rolled beeswax candles is astonishingly simple and has both a functional and beautiful outcome. It is a satisfying craft project for adults and kids alike. Keep your hands busy while enjoying teatime with friends. Encourage fine motor skills in children. Savor the honey sweet scent of the beeswax and the aromatic notes of crushed herbs. What are rolled beeswax candles? Rather than melting beeswax and pouring it in a vessel, you roll sheets of beeswax to make tapers. The sheets look similar to the beeswax…
Mushroom Foraging Badges!
I have been promising my kids that I would make them "badges" for each new mushroom they find while out hiking, this is not all of them, but it's a start! Print them on cardstock and cut them out, or if you are feeling adventurous print them onto fabric and sew them onto felt circles. Check out my mushroom foraging hike if you need suggestions for this fun activity! Click on the image above for the PDF!
Fall Birthday Countdown!
My oldest’s bday is coming up at the end of September and we broke out this countdown I made last year. There are little clip art raccoons behind all the doors (his favorite animal) and now my youngest wants one too! Both my kids are obsessed with counting down to their bday and keep a list of numbers that they cross off until their bdays independently so this fancy version was a big upgrade. You could cut doors on any drawing or clip art piece and make your own! Happy fall!!
Harvest Moon Celebration
We are so excited for the Harvest Moon! The Harvest Moon was so named in Europe because the light of the full moon allowed farmers to work into the night to bring in the harvest. After the harvest was finished it was a time of celebration and rest. This full moon is always the one closer to the Autumnal Equinox so it’s most often in September, but sneaks into October every now and again. In many Asian cultures this full moon is known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. It’s is traditionally celebrated with mooncakes (which we have made one of our traditions too!) Have you ever looked up at the man in the moon? What westerners refer to as the man in the moon, many other cultures refer to the rabbit…
Spring Eggshell Candles
This is a simple craft that doesn't require many materials or a lot of time. Materials: Eggshells Beeswax (pellets, chunks or even old candles bits) Wicks (tealight size) Dried flowers (optional) Crushed mica (optional) Method:First prepare the eggs: I use eggshells from eggs I have eaten or baked with and don't do anything special when I crack them. If you know you are planning to make some, just think about making the crack closer to the skinny end, but as long as you have a solid half (ie don't crush it into a million pieces like my children do...) it should be fine. The fiddliest bit is that you need to pull the membrane out, if you do when they are fresh I can usually just yoink them out in…