Get creative with fall gardening scraps!

Fall is a time to put things to bed in the garden. But don't put all those flower heads and herbs directly in the compost, play with them first! Repurposing your items normally headed for your compost or yard waste receptacle presents a unique opportunity for kids to get truly hands on with nature, even if that means tearing a flower up! This is a great way for kids to learn what's inside of a "dead flower"...seeds!

Mature marigolds provide a great opportunity for viewing mature seeds. 

You can save these, too, to grow next season! Just fold inside of a packet made out of paper. (I will post these instructions, too).

 In the photo above, we gave each child a pair of scissors and told them to help cut all the flowers off. I was hoping to make a giant pile of marigolds to toss around. This kids were really excited about actually getting to "pick" flowers and open them up. I think we entertained this 2, 3, and 4 year old for a good 40 minutes just cutting off flowers.

Even babies can get into this! Great opportunity
 for filling in dumping practice, just add a bucket!

Great cutting practice.

We made a garland from the marigold flower heads.

To make marigold garland, you just need a needle and thread. You can get a quilting needle (more dull) for kids to try out. You can also make a marigold crown, as pictured in the leaf crown blog post last week.

Speaking of piles of garden things, this idea also worked great with a bunch of oregano I had to cut from my garden. Frost was coming, and I had tons of oregano that needed to be harvested and dried. It was rainy the day we did this, so I set up the activity indoors for my daughter to help.

Big big pile of oregano-smelled wonderful and very tempting to a baby!

Baby had fun rifling through the pile.

Supplies you need: paper bag of any size, yarn, scissors, stapler.

Step 1: Cut off any flowers.

Picture after cutting flowers off.

Also cut off any yellowing or sickly colored leaves. 

All herbs used for drying should be vivid green. Otherwise, you risk mildewing/molding.

Gather a bundle depending on the size of your bag.

 The larger the bag you are using, the larger and more bundles it can handle.

Wrap ends with yarn, just a few times.

Ready for hanging inside bag.

For fun, you can make a mini bundle and wrap it more heavily on the bottom.
This makes a fun kids' necklace!

Baby liked wearing her herb necklace-smelled great!

Staple each bundle to the edge of the bag.

When you're done, staple the top shut.

The last step will be to find a dry place. Temperature is not too important here, just as long as it is dry. An attic works great. If you use an old shopping bag like I did, the handles are perfect to hang on a random nail or hook.

Autumn Crowns with Leaves and Marigolds

Fall is a fantastic time to get creative with leaves. This week in our nature play session, we made leaf crowns. I tried and tested this popular craft activity using several different methods. My goal was to find something that was easy for the kids to affix the leaves onto and didn't involve glue, tape, or staples.

Supplies: Elastic cording, pretty-colored fall leaves or flowers (I used marigolds but mums would also work nicely)

Preparation: Braid three pieces of the elastic cording together. Knot at the end to fashion a crown shape.

ACTIVITY

Step 1-Have kids collect the leaves they would like to use (we used fun apple orchard buckets), then dump them out and pick through the pile to find their adornments. 

Step 2-Participants (child assisted with an adult) can push the stems of the leaves through the braided portions of the elastic crown.

This Dad and tot work together to push the leaves through the braided cord. 

I did these crowns with Marigolds as well. This photo shows a good shot of what the cording looks like.

This is an action shot of me pushing a marigold stem through the elastic cording.

 Depending on the age of the child, they will be able to do more or less of this. Selecting the leaves is always a portion of this activity that any age can do. If an adult holds the elastic open, a young child can push the stem through. The 8 year old pictured below had absolutely no problem doing it on her own! Younger children will need more assistance, but less so compared to stapling or gluing in my opinion.

The leaves crown turned out earthy and beautiful!

This is a crown version with marigolds. Also great autumn colors!

Adorn yourself with samaras, flowers, moss, leaves and more!

This is a fun activity to use just about anywhere-your backyard, on a hike, inside on a rainy day, walk around the neighborhood, etc. Just take a roll of tape with you! I have chosen to show how you would do this inside on a rainy day.

Supplies are minimal.

Supply list:  1. You will need scraps from your yard, garden, neighborhood sidewalks, forested area, etc. I have included, moss, dried grasses and field flowers, fresh marigolds and cosmos, fresh herbs (smells great!), small twigs, acorn caps, samaras. These are just a few, the possibilities are endless! This is a great way to use up the flowering heads of herbs. 2. Duct tape or masking tape (duct tape is stronger for heavier objects). 3. Your hands!

Step 2: Tear, rip, shred!

This is probably the most fun part of the whole project for kids. Tear your plant material into smaller pieces. This can be a rather liberating  and exploratory experience for the little ones, especially if they've been told "No" to picking flowers and leaves off plants in the past. Destruction can be good for learning!

This time it's ok to pull the petals off the flowers!

Next, wrap a piece of tape around your wrist.

Roll your wrist in the tray of natural materials.

The finished product.

This project can be done just by simply rolling your wrist on the ground in a park, forest, etc. See what natural materials you can pick up!

This "nature bracelet" idea was taken from this book full of great ideas!

Activity write-up can be found on pg. 391.

Trees & Leaves Nature Play session

 For this session, we focused on exploring leaves and trees. Our first activity was building forts out of sticks. We used silkies as the roof and walls. We neglected to take pictures of this (having too much fun), so I will post some photos of this later.

Our first craft entailed making a sketchpad with a cloth cover. This sketchpad idea was inspired by programs at the Garfield Park Conservatory (http://www.garfieldconservatory.org/families.htm). This is similar to the bookmarks I made on an earlier post in July, except that we used rocks to pound out the pigments in the leaves (worked pretty well although you can't see details of the leaves, just color). It is a safer option for smaller kids than using hammers). I selected herbs and some weeds growing in the forest preserve to use as pigments.

A Mom ties on the sketchpad as a necklace
 to make it easier to take along on the hike.

We also made art using tree cookies and colored pastels. The tree cookies were sliced pieces of a log I had lying around my yard. The oil pastels hold up during rain, so this makes a fun garden decoration.

Endless color and design variations with the tree cookie art!

Even the smallest little ones can participate. 

For the really young ones, the tree cookies would still be fun (a great keepsake) but we also provided sensory buckets. A bucket full of large river rock was fun to explore for little fingers. I used the toilet paper tube test to determine choking hazard size.

Then it was time to take our nature sketchpads out on a hike. Each child received a bag full of chubby rubbing crayons to take with.  We were hunting for interesting bark to make a rubbing.

We took our sketchpads on our hike
 and made bark rubbings. 

Some families got really creative and
found amazing trunks to experiment with!

Sample of a bark rubbing-I think this is a black oak tree.

A parent spotted this tree struck by lightening
-notice the branches hanging upside down!

I believe this is a White Ash tree.

Sticks and Stones Family Nature Play Session

A few local families and I meet every week for a nature play session. This week's theme was "Sticks and Stones." We started out with some "loose parts" play using several baskets full of twigs, natural building blocks (see my earlier post from July 2012 on how to make them), and stones. I set them up on a asphalt path, and set up a sample design. My idea was for the kids to set the stones and twigs in various patterns, build with them, etc. I also provided various "squirt bottles," such as misters, old dish soap bottles, liquid soap pumps, etc. This had an interesting effect on the colors of the stones! The kids loved the water.

This little boy brought his own Lego toy for added fun! Mixing the natural with modern toys can add new dimensions!

The boy on the right is tipping a squeezie "ketchup bottle" style container over some rocks. The rocks changed colors!

Even the smallest little ones can have a great time with sticks and stones. This little guy was making a line. Great way to teach shapes, too!

The second portion of our session included making walking sticks to use on our hike. I also gathered the walking stick idea from programs at the Garfield Park Conservatory (http://www.garfieldconservatory.org/families.htm). I provided yarn, leather cording, beads, a small compass and "natural treasures" sack to tie onto the stick. The compasses were about 1 inch in size and light enough to tie on to the stick. I ordered muslin sacks premade from San Francisco Herb Company, but you can make your own if you are handy. I'll explain the "natural treasures" idea below.

Family Walking Stick under construction

A good shot of the "natural treasures" sack and compass here.

 After everyone made their sticks, we headed out for our hike. Each child used their stick to manage the terrain and we stop and explored "natural wonders" like a carpenter ant, spider, burr oak acorns, moss growing on a fallen piece of bark, pebbles, etc. If the (non-alive) item was small enough, we each took one and added it our natural treasures bag. Everyone got a piece of the moss on bark!

About 1.5 weeks before this photo was taken, I placed a charred log alongside the trail. When we walked by, we rolled the log over and it was teeming with life! Pill bugs, millipedes, daddy long legs, several beetle species, larvae, and more were scampering away as we flipped over the rock.

You can see the two little guys (pink shirt and striped shirt) testing out their walking sticks.

It was a fun day! I hope our little budding hikers keep their walking sticks for years to come!

String some garland with dried seed pods from your garden!

As fall nears, seed pods will start to dry and will present an excellent opportunity for crafting with nature! Below I have pulled two stems of dried seed pods commonly found in home gardens. I have selected Love in the Mist and Blue False Indigo. Both are perennial shrubs. The seed pods make an excellent natural shaker, too! Allegedly, Blue False Indigo was used as Native American baby rattles.

Pictured from top to bottom: Love in the Mist and False Blue Indigo

Tools needed for creating seed garland.

You will need bendable wire from the craft store. Floral wire is too thin and too short for making any fun designs. It can be found in the jewelry section.

String pods on in desired pattern.

It is very easy to poke the wire through the seed pods (if you are using the kind of wire I suggested). Our 7 year old here is doing it all on her own without my help (=20 minutes of quiet time for mom).

Keep stringing.

One design possibility.

Seed pod garlands make fun yard art. 

 

 

When the seed garland is done, arrange or use as decor in a variety of ways, including decorating your yard or garden. It's a great way to cheer up a drab chain link fence. The seed pods, because they are natural, should weather pretty well for a while.