Nature Art – Page 9 – Phlox Architect

01Dec 2022 by catbird No Comments

Chrysalis Sleeping Bags

Craft Project, Hibernation Celebration, Learning, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Winter

I was so inspired by this artwork from photographer Levon Biss that I knew I needed to come up with a project about insect hibernation. My brain immediately went to chrysalis sleeping bags because a chrysalis is in a way a tiny sleeping bag, and the patterns on these are so beautiful I though they would be amazing inspiration. First things first, insects don't technically hibernate. Many are inactive during the winter and undergo a state in which their growth, development, and activities are suspended temporarily, with a metabolic rate that is high enough to keep them alive. This dormant condition is termed diapause. We made our sleeping bags on a small scale for stuffies, but this would a fantastic project for an older student (or grown up...) at full…

04Nov 2022 by catbird 1 Comment

Make Twig Stars

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Winter Solstice

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…

03Nov 2022 by catbird No Comments

Snow or Mud Faces

Craft Project, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Play, Winter, Winter Solstice

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,

01Nov 2022 by catbird 3 Comments

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…

28Oct 2022 by catbird No Comments

Milkweed Skull Seed Bombs for Samhain/ Dia De Muertos

Garden, Nature Art, Samhain

Samhain is the time of year that most plants die. The trees are starting to look bare and skeletal and in olden times it’s when many animals were slaughtered for the winter. It’s not really hard to put together why this time of year is often associated with death and spirits. There is some kind of primal anxiety this time of year left over from when we worried we wouldn’t have enough food for the winter. I used to always find myself overwhelmed and sad. Then I had an epiphany of sorts… about soil. Soil is made of millions of years worth of decayed organic matter. Leaves, plants, animals, microbes have all died and become soil. All of this death gives rise to new life. New life couldn’t exist without…

19Sep 2022 by catbird 3 Comments

Mushroom Foraging Badges!

Autumn, Craft Project, First Harvest, Free Printable, Nature Art, Nature Journaling, Play, Summer

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!

18Sep 2022 by catbird 1 Comment

Foraged Wild Grape Ink

Autumn Equinox, Autumn Portfolio, Foraging, Nature Art

I was super excited to come across a giant clump of wild grapes last Autumn Equinox- we made it into some beautiful purple ink that also smells amazing! Ink is such a fun easy project to do with kids and wild grape ink is a perfect fall project! ⁠

19Aug 2022 by catbird No Comments

Magic Potions

Nature Art, Play, Summer Portfolio

A particularly beautiful magic potion in a river clam shell.

18Dec 2021 by catbird 3 Comments

Solstice Ice Lanterns

Craft Project, Nature Art, Winter Portfolio, Winter Solstice

Every Winter Solstice we make an ice lantern for the center of our Solstice Spiral. We fill it up with pinecones and holly and evergreens and it makes the whole space magical! If it's not cold enough where you live, you can stick these in the freezer instead. There are a few different ways to make them below- the botanical lanterns are my favorite, but the balloon lantern lantern is faster if you're in a pinch. We rarely have enough snow for teh snowball lantern, but if you do it's easy and fun! Botanical Ice Lanterns Materials: Two plastic containers- one larger and one smaller Masking tape Water Evergreen branches, holly, berries, pinecones etc Method: Set you smaller container inside the larger one and tape it in place with the…

08Dec 2021 by catbird 1 Comment

Orange Garlands

Craft Project, Nature Art, Winter Portfolio

Dried oranges and wooden beads strung into garlands are one of my favorite things about winter. The whole thing smells amazing when the fire is going!

Category: Nature Art