16Jun 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Plarn Sun Catchers

Plarn Sun Catchers

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Recycled Materials, Summer Portfolio, Summer Solstice
I am always trying to think of new ways to make sun catchers this time of year- it's the perfect easy craft to celebrate the sun. I also try and stay away from the contact paper method and excessive waste plastic (no shade though we've all been there.) This is one of my favorite sun catchers to date-- it's simple enough for littles and engaging enough, well for adults honestly. It makes use of waste plastic in the form of those terrible plastic grocery bags that just never seem to go away. (My county has banned them and yet they are still everywhere?) You first cut the bags into strips and make a type of yarn (plastic + yarn = plarn) and then weave them around sticks. It's a very…
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04Jun 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Brew Some Summer Sun Tea

Brew Some Summer Sun Tea

Foraging, Free Printable, Play, Summer Solstice
This is an excerpt from my new book: Summer Solstice: Celebrating the Brightest Day. The full chapter includes information about summer flowers, how light impacts the way we and different pollinators see flowers, creating an herbarium and a floral luncheon made with edible flowers. (Where this recipe came from!) Red Clover Sun Tea This recipe is fantastic because it not only uses summer flowers, but it is made with the help of the sun! I can remember making sun tea with my mom as a little girl and it was basically magic. Red clover on its own makes a tasty and healthy tea, but we add my kids’ favorite tea bags to make it more familiar for them. If I wasn’t trying to please picky kids, I would use the…
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04Jun 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Summer Wild Berry Foraging Hike

Summer Wild Berry Foraging Hike

Foraging, Hike Ideas, Play, Summer Portfolio, Summer Solstice
This is probably my kids favorite kind of hike... built in snacks! In fact, we love foraging for wineberries along hiking trails so much that I named my business Wineberry Wood Press. There are tons and tons of different types of berries that grow wild all summer, find a good field guide or a knowledgable forager in your area and get a sense of what is available when and or course what is safe. Wineberries and blackcaps are a particular favorite of ours, but there are so many others! bring a basket and collect berries to make a treat later, or do what we usually do and just eat and walk. Either way it will stave of the frequent protestations of "I'm hungry!" strawberries wineberries mulberry & honeysuckle tart wild…
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04Jun 2023 by catbird 3 Comments
Botanical Bioplastic Sun Catchers

Botanical Bioplastic Sun Catchers

Craft Project, Learning, Nature Art, Play, Summer Solstice
The Summer Solstice is a perfect time to make sun catchers-- light is abundant and long lasting. Every year I try to think up a new way of making a fun sun catcher that will look beautiful gleaming in a summer window and celebrate the season. This year we used a material that's been on my list forever-- bioplastic. Bioplastic is "a plastic derived from biological substances rather than from petroleum, many types of which are biodegradable." So in for this project we use gelatin to make a plastic that is completely biodegradable and not harmful to the environment, but is string and rigid the way traditional plastic is. We used natural plant colorants to dye our bioplastic. Botanical Bioplastic Sun Catchers My favorite of the sun catchers we made this…
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30May 2023 by catbird 3 Comments
Telling Time with the Sun

Telling Time with the Sun

Learning, Play, Summer Solstice
One of the most interesting ways that humans have used the sun over the years is to tell time. You'll find two projects that focus on creative ways of telling time in my Summer Solstice book, but here are two more ways you can explore this idea. Make a Sundial Shadows are the shortest they will be all year on the Summer Solstice which makes it a practical and fun time to make a sundial. You'll need something to serve as the "gnomon" which is the the piece that casts the shadow, and then you'll need something to record the position of the shadow every hour on the hour. We are using rocks here, but you can use whatever you want/ have available. Materials: rocks (or some other object of…
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30May 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Summer Solstice Flower Crowns

Summer Solstice Flower Crowns

Garden, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Play, Summer Portfolio, Summer Solstice
One of our favorite traditions on the Summer Solstice is to make and wear flower crowns! In our part of the world this is when flowers really start to bloom and show off. You can weave crowns with the same technique we used to make May Day Garlands here, but this is best done with things that have long stems like dandelions. Our preferred method is to make a wreath from honeysuckle or other vine and then embellish with other flowers. That way you can use things with shorter stems and it's a bit simpler. Weaving Flower Crowns Materials: flexible vines-- we always use honeysuckle flowers Method: Loop a few vines into a circle that fits on your head. You'll want 3-4 loops and can use more than one vine…
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28Apr 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Maypole Happiness Trees & Garlands

Maypole Happiness Trees & Garlands

Craft Project, May Day, Nature Art, Play
The last Friday in April is Arbor Day in the United States. (There are several other Arbor Day observances in other countries as well!) I knew I was going to do a May Day post on Arbor Day so I immediately thought of maypoles which were once made from trees. Arbor Day is a day to celebrate and plant trees and I was immediately reminded of an old project we did during covid lockdown to celebrate special trees. Everyone choose a tree that was special to them, in their yard, in a park or somewhere they went every day and decorated it with natural or compostable decorations. We called them happiness trees, in part because they brought joy to others during lockdown. As a part of that project we researched…
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