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Easy crafts for kids: fun winter nature crafts and activities

January 5, 2021 by Catherine 31 Comments

Are you managing to get the kids playing outdoors this winter? These fun winter nature crafts will help you tempt them off the sofa!

running through autumn leaves

We don’t really see winter as ideal for spending time outdoors with our children, do we?  The days are shorter, the weather is often less than inviting, and it’s hard to motivate ourselves to leave the comfort of a cosy house.  But in my experience, children just don’t think this way.

As far as my kids are concerned, when it comes to getting outdoors the season is pretty much irrelevant. As long as they’re dressed to suit the weather, they will happily romp around regardless.  I think we can learn a lot from their approach!

One easy way to introduce more outdoor time during the winter months is to try some winter nature crafts with your children.  Nature crafts often combine outdoor nature play and indoor activity, making them perfect for unpredictable weather and limited daylight. You can also use some winter jokes or ice puns to keep everyone smiling.

Here are some of our favourite easy nature crafts for kids that are perfect for winter.

Easy winter nature crafts for kids

Mason jar lanterns

This is the perfect nature activity if you want to combine some outdoor time with a cosy craft. DIY lanterns are really easy to make too – my post on leaf mason jar lanterns shows you how to do it.

winter nature crafts - forest twig picture

Twig craft: winter forest picture

This is a lovely, simple nature craft activity that takes advantage of all the twigs lying around in winter.  Start off by combining a trip outdoors to the park with a stick hunt. Explain to children that they need to find a nice variety of shapes and sizes, so they can create a winter forest picture when they get home.  In my experience you may need to give them an idea of maximum stick size – unless you’d prefer a really big picture!

Once you have your stick haul, you can glue them one by one to a piece of thick paper or card using *PVA glue.  The aim is to re-create a winter forest of bare branches. Children can draw in details such as woodland creatures, toadstools and weather once everything is dry.  It’s lots of fun to create a night-time scene too, this works well on *blue card with white details.

winter nature hunt ticking items off on a list

Nature bingo

This is a great activity for those days when you need to make a walk more exciting!

Before you head outdoors, ask the kids to make themselves a bingo sheet, listing items that they think they will spot in nature. The idea is to focus on things you’re likely to find in winter, so for example, this could be berries, an evergreen tree, animal tracks, frost or a robin. 10 to 12 items works well for us, and we like to do a little drawing of each item too.

When an item is spotted, kids can cross it off their sheet – so remember to take a pencil with you! It’s nice to have a chat about why you’re able to see each item at this time of year, as this inevitably leads into a discussion about how nature responds to and copes with the seasons.

For a nature hunt with a Christmas theme, download my free printable Christmas nature scavenger hunt.

Homemade bird feeders

Providing a winter food source for birds is not only a great way to help your local wildlife, encouraging birds to visit your garden will supply you with plenty of interest during the winter months.

Making your own fat cake bird feeders is a simple craft activity that kids can easily get involved with. Take a look at my homemade bird feeders blog post for a step-by-step guide. You can also check out my easy DIY bird feeders post for some variations on shapes.

How to make your own homemade bird feeders - a simple and fun nature activity for children which will encourage wild birds to visit your garden!

Another nice idea for a homemade bird feeder is to hollow out a pumpkin, squash or orange, fill it up with bird seed, and hang it from a tree. My pumpkin bird feeder tutorial shows you how to do it.

winter nature crafts - hollowed out pumpkin made into bird feeder hanging in tree

You can extend this activity by encouraging children to monitor their feeders and make a diary of the variety of birds that visit. We were so surprised at how many species we had on our doorstep!

You can also use a pumpkin to make a super-cute pumpkin fairy house:

Winter journey stick

The rangers at our local Wildlife Trusts nature reserve introduced us to journey sticks, and we’ve been hooked on these simple kids nature crafts ever since.

A journey stick is essentially a memento of a nature walk, featuring fallen items collected whilst on the walk – no picking from plants! These might be leaves, twigs, flowers, berries, feathers or anything else natural that you find along the way.

nature crafts - making journey sticks on a nature walk

Younger children can use a rectangular piece of cardboard with *double sided tape attached to secure items to the card.  Older children can make a journey stick the traditional way, by choosing a stick and attaching items to it using *string or wool.  It’s a very simple nature craft requiring very little preparation, and you can build it into any outdoor exploration.  I love the idea of making journey sticks from each season and getting children to compare what nature has to offer at different times of year.

winter nature crafts - pine cone christmas tree decorations

Pine cone decorations

If you’re crafting with nature in the run-up to Christmas, pine cones are fantastic for creating lovely homemade decorations. You could go on a nature hunt to find your pine cones, or they’re easy to pick up from craft suppliers *online.

You can paint pine cones and turn them into mini Christmas trees, or add pom-poms and string to make tree decorations. Both are simple crafts from nature that even young children can have a go at.

how to grow salad with children

Grow your own for kids: sow winter salad

Children love sowing seeds and watching them grow, and you can still get them planting in winter if you choose the right seeds.

Winter salad is a brilliant option for colder weather; it’s easy to plant and quick to grow. Italso gives you an opportunity to teach children about where food comes from and the importance of healthy eating. My growing salad with kids post has full instructions on how to do it.  You can buy mixed packets of winter-hardy salad seeds from garden centres or *online. They usually include varieties such as rocket and mizuna.

For an extra craft activity children can decorate their own plant pot or *wooden plant labels. This also helps you keep track of which pot belongs to which child!

winter nature crafts - nature garland made with natural materials and string

DIY winter nature garland

This is a lovely way to capture the season in a quick and easy craft.  It’s similar to the idea of making a journey stick, but instead of winding your treasures onto a stick, you tie them onto a piece of string when you get home and hang it up indoors.

We’ve found that berry clusters, twigs, evergreen leaves and feathers all tie on and stay put really well.  You can also add in things you have at home, such as *cinnamon sticks or *dried orange slices, to give your garland a lovely scent.

Fun gardening: planting a winter container

Winter bedding plants are great for giving your garden an injection of colour, and planting up a pot of them is a fun activity that will keep kids busy outdoors. If you use a terracotta pot they can also decorate it with paints or chalks.

Pansies, violas, cyclamen, ivy and heather are all great options for creating a colourful winter display. You could also use evergreen grasses to add foliage, texture and height. My post on winter plants for pots has lots of great plant suggestions.

Heart themed nature crafts for Valentine’s Day

How about spreading the love with some heart nature collages? This is a nice way to combine a nature walk to collect your materials with some indoor play when the weather isn’t very inviting.

My post on heart nature crafts has three fun ideas for kids to try.

a year of nature craft and play book by catherine hughes and becky goddard-hill

More nature craft inspiration

For more nature crafts and kids nature activities, check out my book ‘A Year of Nature Craft and Play’, which is all about getting kids engaged with nature.  It’s filled with fun crafts, gardening, games, art and science activities that inspire kids to get creative with nature and explore the amazing natural world.  There are 52 budget-friendly activities, one for every week of the year, all with easy-to-follow instructions and colourful photos.

You might also like to take a look at my nature craft & play Pinterest board and my inspiring winter quotes.

There are also some lovely ideas in this video:

And if you want to be super-organised, have a look at my posts on heart nature crafts for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day nature crafts, Easter nature crafts, spring nature crafts for kids and autumn nature crafts. You might like my free printable of ideas for exploring nature with children too.

Winter has so much to offer when it comes to outdoor nature activities.  I hope these easy crafts for kids have inspired you to grab your warm clothes and get outdoors!

What are your favourite winter nature crafts?

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Embrace the magic of winter with these enchanting nature crafts for kids! Explore outdoor play and create unforgettable memories with nature-inspired activities. Discover the joy of crafting with natural elements while fostering creativity and connection with the great outdoors. Click to read the full article and spark imagination through delightful winter nature crafts!
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Filed Under: Craft, Kids Craft, Nature Craft Tagged With: Activity, Birds, Children, craft, Family, gardening, Homegrown, Nature, Outdoors, Planting, Salad, Seeds, Wildlife, Winter

« Gardening Calendar: What to Plant in January
Garden activities for kids: 60 fun things to do with kids at home »

Comments

  1. Becky says

    January 14, 2016 at 11:02 am

    I love all of these particularly the journey stick…just gorgeous

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 14, 2016 at 11:37 am

      It’s a real favourite with us too, something different every time we do it 🙂

      Reply
    • Josephine says

      January 23, 2017 at 9:17 am

      Doing the bird feeder with after school club today and we are going to get books out with bird see how many children know this will be fun and something new for children to learn. Josephine

      Reply
      • Catherine says

        January 23, 2017 at 7:15 pm

        That’s going to be lots of fun, great idea to combine it with a book too 🙂

        Reply
  2. Coombe Mill - Fiona says

    January 16, 2016 at 1:38 pm

    What a lovely range of activities. I must say we love to do a journey stick walk here on the farm and now I fancy the garland idea too. We could go on one of our nature trails and collect things to add to the string and decorate the craft tent. thank you for the idea and for sharing all yours with me on #CountryKids

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 17, 2016 at 6:16 pm

      I’ve found the garlands are great for practising tying knots too – I bet a farm nature trail is fab!

      Reply
  3. Ruth Anne says

    January 17, 2016 at 1:46 am

    These are great ideas! Thank you so much for posting #countrykids

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 17, 2016 at 6:17 pm

      Thanks, hope they’ve inspired you 🙂

      Reply
  4. Emma says

    January 17, 2016 at 10:49 am

    Lovely ideaa. We play outiside a lot in Winter but I’m rubbish with crafts and would like to do more.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 17, 2016 at 6:20 pm

      Well nature crafts are great for that, I’m pretty bad at being organised for craft activities and the fact that we can just go outdoors and find what we need makes it much more likely to happen!

      Reply
  5. Sarah - Craft Invaders says

    January 17, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    Love all these craft ideas – proves there’s plenty of craft opportunities out there, whatever the time of year, if you put your mind to it!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 17, 2016 at 6:19 pm

      Exactly, nature doesn’t stop just because it’s cold and wet – I do like being able to come indoors for the crafty bit too though!

      Reply
  6. Let kids be kids says

    February 3, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    Lovely winter craft ideas. We love getting out and combining it with craft is always a winner in our house. Love the garland.
    #Whatevertheweather

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      February 3, 2016 at 6:52 pm

      We find it a great combination too, I love how it can be really impromptu as well. We like making a garland for each season, must remember to take photos of them all next time though!

      Reply
  7. Jenny Eaves says

    February 8, 2016 at 9:02 am

    So any lovely ideas! Love the idea of the winter forest picture and the journey stick using double sided tape is a lovely idea too. We made journey sticks by weaving pieces into wool last year, a similar idea, but not tried it in winter.
    Thanks so much for linking up your fantastic ideas to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      February 8, 2016 at 6:59 pm

      Winter journey sticks are great, my two always go for lots of berries to make up for the lack of flowers – that said, I’m definitely looking forward to doing a nice flowery Spring one!

      Reply
  8. Chloe says

    February 8, 2016 at 9:23 pm

    I absolutely love these ideas!!!! All of them. I can’t even pick a favourite. We keep running out of things to do with Evie outdoors, but some of these things are perfect. I’m going to be trying them all in the next couple of weeks. What a fabulous post! Thank you so much for sharing with #whatevertheweather xx

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      February 9, 2016 at 11:49 am

      So glad it gave you some inspiration 🙂 My kids love them all but their favourite is the journey sticks, I think it’s the excitement of not knowing what they might find that does it for them – that and the good old stick hunt of course!

      Reply
  9. Rachel says

    February 15, 2016 at 10:12 am

    Love these ideas Catherine. Thanks for sharing. We love encouraging kids to get out there in nature discovering things also fans of the Winter Salad growing!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      February 16, 2016 at 3:49 pm

      Ah yes Winter salad is a fave here too, perfect for getting the kids planting at this time of year!

      Reply
  10. Claire says

    January 18, 2017 at 7:20 am

    Great ideas. I’ve been meaning to do journey sticks for some time.

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 19, 2017 at 8:29 am

      Oh they’re brilliant – we love doing them every season as you get such different results each time. Have fun!

      Reply
  11. Catherine says

    January 14, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    I love these ideas, I have t admit that I turf us out of the house regardless of the weather but what a nice idea to have a story stick to add to as you go!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 15, 2018 at 10:45 am

      I’ve found it’s a really good way to keep the kids engaged when we’re out and about – especially if the weather is less than marvellous!

      Reply
  12. Josefin says

    January 10, 2019 at 8:21 pm

    Great ideas and beautiful images, love them all! Another idea is to find an interesting branch that fell off a tree and fold origami birds to hang on it with see-through fishing wire.

    Reply
  13. Claire Rocks says

    January 9, 2020 at 7:35 pm

    One of our family 2020 resolutions is to get outdoors more. These activities will definitely help. thanks for sharing

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      January 10, 2020 at 11:30 am

      That’s the kind of resolution I like! Have fun 🙂

      Reply
  14. Carol says

    February 25, 2020 at 8:35 am

    These are great ideas- we’re developing an outdoor adventure/learning company and these will be added to the activity list !

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Whatever the Weather #29 - Monkey and Mouse says:
    February 9, 2016 at 8:47 pm

    […] favourite post this week came from Growing Family, with some fab nature craft […]

    Reply
  2. WHATEVER THE WEATHER #29 - LIFE UNEXPECTED says:
    February 10, 2016 at 6:01 am

    […] favourite post from last week was ‘Winter Nature Crafts For Children‘ by Growing Family. There are some really cute ideas here. If you’re stuck for what to […]

    Reply
  3. Outdoor Winter Activities For Kids - Montessori Nature says:
    January 8, 2017 at 3:28 pm

    […] Make Winter Nature Craft – Growing Family […]

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Hi, I’m Catherine. Welcome to Growing Family, a top UK home & garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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