Nature provides a variety of interesting craft materials that can be collected and turned into amazing kid’s crafts that everyone will enjoy. Or maybe “living” crafts where you gather plants or seeds for your creations, is something you want to try. The following are some great kid’s crafts from nature you can create.
Bonsai Trees Kid’s Crafts
A bonsai tree is a dramatic representation of nature in a miniaturized form. It’s not as difficult as you may think it is. This should be supervised by an adult, but that makes it a joint learning venture that you can enjoy as well.
Materials:
- Two or three various shaped Bonsai pots
- Sharp pruning cutters or shears
- Potting soil
- Pea-sized gravel (or small rocks from nature you collect)
- Coffee filter or sheet of newspaper
- Pruning scissors
- Trowel
Before you start, do some research. Which trees are best suited for your region? Some easy beginning trees types are maple, barberry, Japanese maple, azalea, juniper, or cotoneaster. Below are some good tips to help you along the way:
- Get the owner’s permission before heading into the woods or fields in your area. Another option is purchasing a potted shrub at a garden center.
- Look for interesting, thick trunks that are shaped interestingly for your project.
- Use a trowel (if collecting from the wild) to collect your seedling, keeping as much dirt on the roots as possible. You can use a plastic bag to keep the roots in a little water.
- When you get home trim the roots (remove about ⅓ of the roots) and place the bonsai into a prepared pot.
- To prepare the bonsai pot, cut up coffee filter or newspapers into squares and place them over the holes in the pot. Next, Cover the bottom of the pot with gravel followed by soil.
- Start trimming the foliage and branches on the top into an attractive shape. So, keep in mind that you need to remove at least a third of the foliage because you’ve removed that much of the roots. For more help on designing your tree see Bonsai Empire’s post, Shaping and Styling Bonsai Trees.
- Water regularly and keep trimmed into shape over the years to come.
Stone Cabin Kid’s Crafts
Let your imagination guide you with this kid’s craft project.
Materials:
- Hot glue gun
- Collection of stones or small rocks
- Sticks, wooden craft sticks or moss-covered cardboard to make the roof
Use the helpful tips below.
- Use a sturdy platform like a piece of cardboard or plywood and place a single layer of rocks into a square and glue into place.
- Glue the rocks, stones, and pebbles into walls and leave openings for windows and doors. These can be framed with sticks.
- Your roof can be created out of a variety of materials. Covering cardboard with moss will make a flat rustic roof. Also, you can glue craft sticks or twigs into a peaked roof shape. Or, use some straw for a thatched-roof look.
*Variations: glue stones to the outside of cardboard box or glue twigs and sticks to make a log cabin.
There’s an endless variety of possibilities that can be created from nature. So look around and collect interesting twigs, acorns, pinecones, and unique flowers. You can also glue pinecones and acorns onto foam rings to create a wreath. Try weaving flowers into chains. Or, you can press flowers and decoupage them onto card stock paper. More importantly, because kid’s crafts from nature are only limited by your imagination, you have countless options. For more great kid’s craft ideas see our previous post, Kids Paper Crafts.