Crafty Nature

While we’re pretty crafty here at Savvy HQ, that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily good at crafts. But recently we’ve been inspired to find activities with the kids that bring the outdoors in. And because they all use old household items, and are designed to bring the kids outdoors, they’re an exercise in being green as well.

Egg Carton Caterpillars
You’ll Need: Cardboard egg carton, paint (ideally tempera) and brushes, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, scissors, glue
The Nature Part: To get the kids in the mood to create caterpillars, send them outside to crawl around on the grass (pretending they are caterpillars, of course). Next, have them hunt for real caterpillars, and if they find any, gather around to inspect them, then oooh and ahhh about what unique characteristics caterpillars have.
The Craft: Cut the egg carton into strips of six (this step should be done by a grown-up). Cut the pipe cleaners into 10 cm lengths. Next, have the kids paint the egg carton (which is now the caterpillar body) in any design they wish. After the paint is dry, help them insert pipe cleaners into the first cell (the head) of the egg carton to form antennae. Glue googly eyes onto face.

Chocolate Tray Nature Collection
You’ll Need: The gold tray found inside a box of chocolates, lots of white glue, a collection of small ‘found items’ such as berries, rocks, interesting shaped leaves or flower heads
The Nature Part: Take the troops on a nature walk and charge them with finding a variety of pretty items such as one berry, the head of a flower they have not seen before, or an unusual pebble. Give each child a small bag or bucket for collecting.
The Craft: Once home from the walk, sort through the items and choose the best ones, enough for one each to go in the indents of the tray that used to hold the chocolates. Determine a design of your child’s choice (i.e. you can place them randomly, put all berries in one row, all green items in a row etc.) to arrange the items in the tray. One item at a time, completely fill the indent with glue and then drop the item on top of the glue. It will sink a little into the glue, and as the glue dries to a more translucent state (note this can take up to three days due to the depth of the glue), the item will be fixed in place and a beautiful shadow-box style collection will be created.

Berry Basket Fairy (or Bug) Houses
You’ll Need: Scissors, plastic berry baskets, ribbon scraps, grass, leaves, pieces of bark, pine cones, acorns, twigs etc.
The Nature Part: Take the kids out to the backyard or to a local park and spend half an hour picking long grass, small twigs and other items that can be used to weave through the squares of the basket.
The Craft: Cut out an entrance from one side of the basket (this is a grown-up step). Then use the grass and twigs to weave through the squares of the sides of the basket to construct walls. Create a roof with bark or leaves and decorate the ‘house’ with ribbon, berries, pine cones or whatever other items the kids fancy. You might even want to let that caterpillar live there for a while.

Reduce, reuse, recraft—that’s what we always say.