Spring Mandalas
Spring is here down under and my front garden is a mass of pink and purple flowers. Perfect for a spring mandala!
Spring Mandalas
Category: Nature Craft
Book Review – Nature Crafts with Common Plants
Book Review
Great book review of Nature Crafts with Common Plants in the September 2017 Gardening Australia Magazine (page 11).
“Take cues from this book and fill the school holidays by gathering everything you need for art, craft, dyeing and weaving projects. All the materials come from street trees that are readily grown in urban areas. This book is great for parents who want their children to connect with nature.”
For more information on this book, including where to buy it, click here.
Wattle Crowns and bracelets
Winter in Australia is brightened by our amazing range of flowering wattles. Kids (and adults!) just love making wattle crowns and bracelets, and it’s so easy to do. Just staple a strip of cardboard to make a crown or bracelet, and attach the wattle with sticky tape or staples. A beautiful winter nature craft!
Golden Wattle
The Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha, became the Australian floral emblem in 1988, and wattle appears on the Australian Coat of Arms.
Maple Leaf Spiral
A run of cold nights has brought out some brilliant autumn colour in my garden. My Japanese maple is looking spectacular, and the different shades inspired this pretty spiral. This type of nature craft, when laid out on the ground is sometimes called Land Art. It’s easy, satisfying, free and fun to do with kids!
New Nature Craft book – Nature Crafts with Common Plants
My new book has arrived! The cover features some of my favorite creations, some owls made from Liquidamber pods, with acorn cap eyes and Golden Rain tree wings. These materials are featured in the second half of the book, along with lots of other common plants, many of which are street trees found in cities around the world.
The book is available now from Yourbooksonline and will gradually make its way to other retailers.
Nature Craft Swan Collage
Nature Craft Swan Collage
This nature craft is super easy, so great for a class of really young kids. You can make a template of the swan shape for them to draw around, then cut out.
Use a black texta to draw on an eye and colour in the beak.
Glue on leaves for feathers, using whatever leaves you have around. Done!
Beach Mermaid
A sandy beach is the perfect canvas for some fun ephemeral land art. Use seaweed, shells, pebbles and any other bits and pieces you can find on the ground nearby. Create a mermaid or other sea creature. Take a photograph, then leave the pieces on the ground to be returned to the sea or for someone else to use.
For more inspiration, see the work of Land Artists Richard Shillings and Andy Goldsworthy.
Nature Craft Wreath
Paper plates with the middle cut out make a perfect base for a wreath. And they’re cheap & easy if you’re working with a whole class of young kids. Head outside so the kids can collect some natural materials. I’ve glued on gum leaves, gum blossom and gumnuts to give it a very Aussie touch, but just use whatever plants are available. A very simple yet effective nature craft activity!
Seedpod Reindeer
Here’s another easy Christmas nature craft which kids love. Collect some large gumnuts for the body and sheoak pods to make the head for your seedpod reindeer. Small twigs can be used for the antlers and legs. Glue them together with a low-melt glue gun to form a little reindeer. Add plastic eyes and a Coral Gum cap for the nose, which can be painted red to turn it into Rudolph.
Gumnut & Acorn Angel
Here’s a simple angel decoration to get your Christmas creativity started.
I’ve used a large gumnut for the body, with an acorn and cap for the head. Bow tie pasta is the perfect size and shape for wings.
Use a low-melt glue gun to glue it all together, and add a dash of gold paint for some sparkle! Glue a loop of thread on the back if you’d like to hang it. Voila!
Pink Petal Girl
Encourage children to pick some flowers and leaves and arrange them on the ground to create their own unique little character.
Explain that sometimes the most beautiful things aren’t permanent, eg. flowers and sunsets, but if we want to, we can capture them with photographs.
Sometimes called ephemeral art, this style of using natural materials has been used by famous British artist and sculptor Andy Goldsworthy.
Nature Craft Mouse
Oak trees are found in cities around the world, and acorns have been used by crafters in all sorts of ways for centuries. Young kids love collecting acorns, and nature crafts are a great use for them! Make a nature craft mouse like this or some other little creature.
I’ve used a low melt glue gun to glue on pistachio kernels for the ears and plastic eyes. Alternatively, you could use acorn caps as the ears, or even small leaves. Vine tendrils form a perfect tail. Head outside, collect some acorns and make a whole colony!
Gumnut Babies
“Gumnut Babies” originated in the creative mind of iconic English-Australian author & illustrator May Gibbs. “Snugglepot and Cuddlepie” are her most famous characters.
These are my version, made using large gumnuts for the bodies, sheoak pods for the heads, and fresh gum blossom for the hats. The little one on the left has a gumnut cap with wattle glued around it.
I’ve added little plastic eyes, and put them together using a handy dandy low melt glue gun. Easy!
Coral Gum Cap Bracelet
Coral Gum (Eucalyptus torquata) is a native of Western Australia and used as a hardy street tree in dry climates. Look on the ground under them when in blossom and you’ll find hundreds of dainty little flower caps.
Collect some caps, dry them out for a couple of days, then snap or cut off the tips. Thread them like beads to create a Coral Gum bracelet or necklace. This is a lovely mindful nature craft activity for kids, which adults enjoy it too!
More information on seedpod jewelry is on page 30 of my book Nature Crafts for Aussie Kids.