Nature Crafts

Have your child paint one side of a small leaf. Press the painted side onto a smooth rock. Repeat this process several times, using different leaves and colors if you like. When the paint is dry, use it as a paperweight.
Materials

* Rocks
* Tempera or acrylic paint
* Paintbrush
* Small leaves

Press the sheets together, punch a hole near the top, then use string to hang the picture in a window.
Materials

* Glue and liquid tempera paint or food coloring; or thinned colored glue
* Paintbrush
* 2 equal-size sheets of wax paper
* Colorful leaves
* Flowers, pine needles, and other natural objects (optional)
* Glitter
* Hole punch
* Piece of string, less than 12” in length.

If you like, leave a few natural objects in the paint to make a three-dimensional collage.

Materials

* Glue
* Tempera paint
* Feathers, pine cones, pine needles, flowers, and other natural objects
* Paper

Show your child how to dip the sponge piece into the paint, blot it on newspaper to absorb the excess paint, then lightly dab it around the edge of each leaf.

Materials

* Leaves
* Masking tape
* Construction paper or poster board
* Scissors
* Sponge
* Clothespin
* Liquid tempera paint in fall colors (orange, yellow, red, and brown)
* Shallow containers
* Newspaper
* Clear contact paper (optional)

Pressed flowers can be used to decorate a variety of paper items.

Materials

* Small flowers (pansies, violets, buttercups, daisies, and so on)
* Newspaper or other absorbent paper
* Heavy book
* Glue
* Plain note cards, note paper, or construction paper
* Clear contact paper

Drying flowers is a wonderful way for your child to enjoy their beauty all year long.

Materials

* Variety of flowers
* Rubber bands or string
* Florist’s foam (optional)
* Vase or pot
* Clothes hangers

Remove the paper and peel off the leaf to reveal the print. then repeat process for each note card, using a different leaf or color of paint, if you like.

Materials

* Paintbrush
* Paints—for fun, use two or more colors
* Fresh small leaves
* Blank note cards
* Clean scrap paper

Let the kids make clay or dough leaf prints to celebrate the coming of autumn.

Materials

* Homemade or store-bought non-toxic play dough or clay
* Leaves
* Small rolling pins or round dowels

Your child will love making this handmade bird feeder to hang outside your house to attract birds. Hang the feeder outside near a window where your child can watch the birds eat.

Materials

* Heavy string, yarn, or a shoelace
* Pine cone
* Pencil or straw
* Round oat cereal or pretzels
* Peanut butter
* Birdseed
* Stale bread
* Cookie cutter
* Popsicle stick

Pressed or dried flowers - follow the directions for the Flower Press activity to press fresh flowers, or use dried flowers instead.

Materials

* Pressed or dried flowers—follow the directions for the Flower Press activity to press fresh flowers, or use dried flowers instead.
* Child’s blunt-tip safety scissors
* Envelope with a clear plastic window
* Construction paper
* Glue
* Washable markers or gel pens
* Hole punch and ribbon (optional)

Kids love creating textures on paper. Show your child how to rub the side of the crayon on the paper over the object.

A perfect craft for Autumn when all of the leaves are falling. You and your child have to go out hiking to get items for this craft.

Material:

construction paper
pine cones, leaves or sticks
glue
crayons
a little imagination

The history of Advent, how to make an advent wreath at home, advent calendar craft idea. Create your own wreath every year, using greens from the yard, florist wire, pine cones, candles and candle holders. Insert your greens pine cones candles etc. into a Styrofoam ring. You can also find wood or metal bases to be used year after year.

Materials:

greens from the yard
florist wire
pine cones
candles
candle holders
Styrofoam ring

Kids can make a beautiful candy or nut bowl using autumn leaves and a margarine tub, then make a fun turkey craft. A margarine tub becomes a festive fall decoration! Plan this activity a few days in advance to allow for drying and preserving the leaves. (great for Scouts and Classrooms)

You'll Need:
Clean Margarine tub
Scissors
White Glue or Mod-Podge Decoupage Medium
Glue Gun or Glue Dots
Any of the following; Brown colored construction paper, burlap, calico fabric
Fresh preserved Autumn Leaves

Acres of land are not necessary for a successful butterfly garden. A window box, or container garden will do the job.

Kids craft idea from Highlights magazine, handmade bookmark.

What you need:
scissors
thin cardboard
glue
construction paper
leaves
tissues
clear self-adhesive paper

Easy Christmas craft ideas to make with kids, pine cone Christmas tree, candy cane reindeer craft.

Materials You'll need:
Dry Pine Cones
Green Glitter
Glue
Sequins

Use feathers and pine cones to make this Thanksgiving turkey craft for kids. Your children can help decorate your Thanksgiving table and make a gift for relatives, with these easy to make pine cone turkeys. For an extra touch add place cards for your family members and then they can take the handmade turkeys home.

Garden Stones - Gardening Craft for Kids Easy to make decorations add a personal touch to your child' s garden. Easy to make decorations add a personal touch to your child's garden.

You'll need:
Smooth stones - any size will do
Acrylic paint
Paint brushes
Stencils (optional)
Clear acrylic sealer

Celebrate Autumn with a craft and science project using fallen leaves. An art project that's actually a craft and science lesson combined! When laminated or covered with clear contact paper these make a unique fall place mat!

You Need:
Leaves
Construction Paper
Sun
Rocks or Stones
to Make a Placemat You Need Laminate or Contact Paper

A Pine cone Bird feeder craft for kids. Attract winter birds with this natural taste treat for your feathered friends!

You'll Need:
Pine cone
Butter knife or wood craft sticks
Natural smooth peanut butter
Birdseed
Natural twine; hemp flax or cotton
Scissors

Discarded crayons fill this autumn craft with fall colors. Take a walk to collect some fresh soft autumn leaves. Then bring the creativity indoors to make this craft.

You'll Need:
discarded old crayons in fall colors
wax paper
construction paper or card stock
Leaves and a pencil for tracing
scissors
glue Stick
cheese grater
iron
rag

This is a great craft for kids who love camping or who are a boy scout or girl scout. Compass Neckerchief Slide or Compass Swap Here's a unique project to represents scouting and adventure.

Materials You need:

* Toy Compass
* 10" Suede Cord
* Low Temp Glue Gun
* 3 Pony Beads
* 4" Pipe Cleaner (for Neckerchief Slide)
* Jewelry Craft Pins (for Swap Pin)

Train Paperweight
Wouldn't Dad just love this paperweight? It's easy to make from our wooden train kit.

You need:

* Wooden Train Kit
* Black, Red and Gold Paint
* Tacky Glue
* Two Craft Sticks
* Mini Mini Craft Sticks
* Plaster of Paris
* Aquarium Gravel
* Small Box or Container for Base Mold

This arts and craft project ideas is a craft for kids to make Glowing Flowers Votive Cup craft great for a gift of nature. When you press flowers and leaves, they become thinner and light can shine through them. In this project, you simply decoupage pressed flowers and leaves to a votive cup and cover with tissue paper.
Reprinted with permission from Joy Williams' wonderful book Nature Crafts.

You Need:

* Pressed Leaves or Flowers
* Votive Cup
* Tissue Paper
* Decoupage Solution
* Foam Brushes

A friend or pet that requires only water and sun light. You will notice that your friend grows grass for hair.

You'll Need:
Shallow dish
Rubber bands
Grass seed
Sawdust
Old Nylon stocking

You and your children can make this cure Log Cabin Arts and Crafts project to have fun or to celebrate President's Day and Abraham Lincolns birthday. Teach your child about Abraham Lincoln and his log cabin and you can turn a fun project into an educational one as well. This Little Log Cabin Craft can be make using a cardboard box, twigs, and hot glue.

-A small cardboard box (we used ones about 9 inches by 12 inches by 9 inches)
-A sheet of cardboard (for the roof)
-Hot glue (you'll need a lot)
-Craft knife (to cut the cardboard)
-Garden shears (to cut the twigs)
-A lot of twigs (choose the straightest ones you can find)
-Pencil
-Optional: Acetate (for the windows)
-Optional: Tiny pebbles and a tiny box (for a chimney)</li>

Kids - Learn how to make a Tepee from twigs and other household materials, just the way that Native Americans / Indians used to make them. Many Native American tribes made tepees (also called wigwams) from long tree limbs and animal hides. You can make a wonderful model tepee using a brown paper grocery bag and twigs. You can make this into an educational activity if you want to teach your children a bit about the Indians culture and history.

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED
# 4 straight twigs (about a foot long each)
# Yarn, twine, or a rubber band
# A large, brown paper grocery bag
# Scissors
# A pencil
# Crayons, tempera paint, or markers
# Tape

How to make a Pumpkin Seed Mosaic Craft for kids. You and your children can learn how to make your own mosaic ... Don't throw those pumpkin seeds away! Roast a few and paint the rest for a spectacular work of art.

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED

# Pumpkin Seeds (clean)
# Tempera paint (dark colors)
# Paint brush
# Shallow container
# Thick paper (poster board)
# Glue
# Pencils
# Wax paper or newspaper

Wild Turkey - Take a walk in the woods and find nature items to make this Thanksgiving pal.

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED:

# Items from nature, such as pinecones, leaves, sticks, pebbles, bark, and seeds
# Kitchen items, such as bay leaves and dry bean-soup mix
# Colored poster board
# Scissors
# Pencil
# Small plate
# Thick white crafts glue

Acorn Ornament Craft - Instructions for making simple ornaments using acorn and paint

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED

# Acorns
# Paint
# Metalic chenille stems
# Hot Glue

Learn how to grow your own corn with this educational outside activity for kids. You can Grow Your Own Corn with the following instructions. Children will enjoy watching these seeds sprout! This is a great educational activity for kids to learn about nature and how plants grow.

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED:

# Kernels of popcorn
# Ziploc bag
# Dirt
# Water

Hey Kids!!! This is the coolest arts and crafts project ever. Learn how to create homemade paper that is filled with seeds that you can then go ahead and plant in your garden. Wow! This children's crafts activity for Paper Seeded Flower ( Learn to make handmade paper filled with seeds to plant ) is going to be exciting to work on with your Mom and Dad!

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED

* Arnold Grummer’s Cotton Linter Casting Squares
* Arnold Grummer’s Casting Strainer
* Flower seeds
* Food coloring, yellow
* Sponge
* Small piece of plastic canvas, 4x4 square
* Wood dowel, 12-inch



* Acrylic paint, green
* Paintbrush
* Colored Paper for petals
* Green Paper for leaves
* Scissors
* Craft glue

SunFlower Craft - Instructions to make a sunflower using a paper plate and real sunflower seeds.

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED:
# Paper Plate
# Glue
# Sunflower Seeds
# Yellow Paint

Hey kids, learn how to make a really cool Sea Shell Paper Weight Crafts activity. This Sea Shell Paper Weight would make a perfect gift for Dad or Mom to put on their desk at work, so it would make a great gift for Mom on Mother's Day or Dad on Father's Day. Make this paper weight with Small sea shells, white glue, sand, paint, and a Wilson Tennis ball container.

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED:
Small sea shells
white glue
sand
paint
Wilson Tennis ball container

Learn how to make a cool picture with sand!!! This is a great children's arts and crafts activity to celebrate Summer time. Your kids will love making this Sand Picture. They can make their very own sand picture with the following crafts materials and follow the link to find out the instructions involved. Have fun!

CRAFTS MATERIALS NEEDED:

# Clean sand. (beach sand, toy sand box sand or even construction sand will do. )Note: sift out any unwanted particles, like rocks or pebbles.
# Small plastic bags
# Food Colouring
# Picture frame with glass (Old ones work great.)
# Drawing or Colouring book picture (not too detailed)
# Permanent Marker
# Elmer's white glue

Autumn / Fall Crafts - Laminated Place Mat or Window Pictures -

An arts and craft project that serves as a great gift for the table. Bringing a little bit of the outside in, this craft project allows kids to explore the world of nature and science.

This craft is easiest if you have access to a laminator, but can also be done, with patience, with a supply of contact paper (clear sticky-back plastic). It is a super way for kids to choose, compare and arrange contrasting leaves and preserve them for a while.

CRAFTS MATERIALS YOUR KIDS NEED TO MAKE THIS CHILDRENS' ARTS AND CRAFTS ACTIVITY:

First you will need a frame. Find a piece of card or paper in autumn colours and cut it so that it is just slightly smaller than your laminating pocket, or the same width as your contact paper. Mark and then cut out a rectangle from the inside so that you are left with a frame.

Instructions for laminator:

Open your laminating pocket and place the frame correctly inside. Choose a selection of autumn leaves and arrange carefully within the frame. If you are making a window picture you must leave some gaps between the leaves for the sun to shine through - but if you leave too much clear space you will have bubbles in the finished product. When you are satisfied with the result, close the pocket and run it through the laminating machine. Trim the edges if necessary.


Instructions for contact paper:

Contact paper is notoriously difficult to handle, so take a deep breath before you start! Decide on the finished size of your place mat / picture and cut two pieces of contact paper to size. Peel the backing off the first piece and carefully lay your frame on top of it to steady it. Now arrange your leaves.

When you are happy with the arrangement, peel the backing off the second piece of contact paper and lay it over the frame and leaves so that they are sealed between the two. Smooth down to fix.

CRAFTS MATERIALS YOUR KIDS WILL NEED TO MAKE THIS ARTS AND CRAFTS ACTIVITY:
A paper plate
Brown and pink construction paper
Crayons, markers, or tempera paint
Scissors
Hole punch
Glue
Yarn, string, or elastic

Paint the back of a paper plate brown.
Draw a groundhog's face on the plate -draw two big eyes and a mouth.
Cut out the eyes and mouth.

Cut two small, curved ears from brown construction paper and glue them near the top of the mask. Glue on a little pink paper circle to be the nose. Glue on bits of string or pipe cleaners for whiskers.
Punch a hole in each side of the mask. Tie a length of yarn to each side of the mask (or use elastic).
You now have a great groundhog mask to wear for Groundhog Day.

CRAFTS MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE THIS CHILDRENS ARTS AND CRAFTS ACTIVITY:
Rabbit Mask Craft -
Supplies needed: Two plain, white paper plates
Pink construction paper or pink paint
Scissors
Stapler
Glue
Crayons, markers, or paint
Optional: small pink pompom
Optional: elastic

Making the rabbit's ears: Either paint the center of a paper plate pink or cut a circle from pink construction paper (it should be the same size as the inside of a paper plate); then glue the pink paper circle to the center of a paper plate.
Cut the paper plate in half (the two halves will be the rabbit's ears).
Making the rabbit's face:Using a new paper plate, cut a wedge (about 1/4 of the plate) out of the paper plate (the large part of the plate will be the rabbit's face).
Staple the ears to the face.
Cut two eye holes in the face.
Optional: glue a small pink pompom to the center of the face (this is the rabbit's nose).
Optional: staple a piece of elastic (about a foot long) to the mask to keep it in place.

Decorate your mask with crayons, markers, or paint. Don't forget to draw whiskers!

Leaf Guide Book Arts & Crafts Project Idea Tutorial For Kids - Hey Kids! Make your own leaf guide book with this arts & crafts project idea instructional tutorial.

CRAFTS MATERIALS YOUR KIDS NEED TO MAKE THIS CHILDRENS' ARTS AND CRAFTS ACTIVITY:
Leaves
Heavy Books/Newspaper for pressing & drying leaves
Wax Paper
Iron
Colored craft paper
Stapler/staples