Today I'm sharing another lovely nature craft that we did on our recent trip to Skylarks nature reserve in Nottingham. As well as doing some fab clay pressing with natural materials, the kids also had a go at making a wooden whistle from twigs. I can vividly remember having one of these made for me when I was six years old and we were on holiday in Canada; it was so exciting watching it take shape, but I didn't get hands-on like my kids did ...
Clay craft: making clay pressings from nature
A couple of weeks ago, we spent a fantastic afternoon exploring nature at our local nature reserve, Skylarks in Nottingham. Skylarks is part of the Wildlife Trusts, and it's a great place to take the kids for a good old outdoor romp. Last year we made journey sticks there, which has become one of our absolute favourite nature crafts. On this particular visit Skylarks was holding an open day, with lots of hands-on activities, demonstrations ...
Beach craft with natural materials
We had a big family gathering in Devon over the bank holiday weekend, and the kids made the most of the chance to get creative with some lovely beach nature play. Our first beach trip of the weekend consisted mainly of body surfing. However, as the tide had just started to go out there was lots of very wet sand, which the youngest cousins loved crafting with. It was so wet, you could drizzle it through your fingers to create some ...
Nature craft: flower pressing
Oh this flower pressing nature craft has taken me right back to being seven years old :) We've been finding beautiful flowers and petals in nature, then preserving them using a flower press, just like I did when I was little. How have I not done this with the kids until now?! We didn't over-complicate this nature craft; we just worked with what we found in the garden. It was an absolute joy to watch these two exploring nature, getting ...
Nature craft: making natural noughts and crosses
I always look forward to the kids being at home more in the school holidays, and this year I'm absolutely loving the extra time it's giving us for crafting. There's a four and a half year age gap between my kids, and I find nature crafts one of the best ways to get them inspired and absorbed by the same activity. We're having our bathroom re-fitted at the moment, and we've been a bit tied to the house while the workmen do their stuff. So we ...
Nature craft: making a miniature garden
We've been having a LOT of fun with our latest nature craft: making a miniature garden. This is a nature craft that I've been wanting to do with the kids for ages. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want, and you really don't need to buy any special materials; just head outside and see what you can find. We started off with a bit of a hunt around the garden, and came up with this haul. It's the first time I've been pleased that we ...
Craft your way to a Summer garden party
It's happened: there have been enough mild, sunny days now this Spring to convince me that it's time to dust off the picnic blanket, and start planning some Summer garden gatherings. It's hard to beat an afternoon spent enjoying your garden with friends and family, I always find this kind of entertaining wonderfully relaxing. I think hosting a gathering in the garden allows you to be much more informal, which means you can have a little fun ...
Harvest time craft: making veggie creatures
We've been having lots of fun this season turning our allotment harvest into veggie animals, so I thought I'd share this fun craft activity with you. Every year my local horticultural society holds their annual show in September. There are lots of categories you can enter your produce into - things like 'heaviest pumpkin' and 'best floral arrangement' - and there is a whole section exclusively for children. The kids were planning to make ...