Earth Day is Monday, April 22nd. With spring in the air, this is a great day to take time to appreciate nature and it's importance in our lives. And of course "nature crafts" are perfect for doing just that. Possibilities for nature inspired crafts are endless and will bring happiness to all who do them, whether they include painting landscapes, photographing trees and flowers, making floral arrangements, repurposing discarded items or planting seeds. Here is a project idea that combines exploring nature and using nature to inspire creativity.
Try a Nature Scavenger Hunt! Prepare a list for your Nature Scavenger Hunt or use our handout. Have students go outside and find the various items listed. When preparing a list of items to find, you can use visuals (pictures), riddles, descriptions or simple words. When using descriptions (as I used), some item descriptions are very specific (concrete) and some are open to interpretation to the students. Collect the items. When the list is complete, lay all the items out in a quiet area, class room, or outside. Have the students then use the items to tell a story. Each student can choose (or be given) one of the collected items and create a line or part to the story...
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March is a wonderful time of the year. Winter is making way for spring. Buds are getting ready to burst. And, of course, March is National Craft Month and National Crochet Month! As a lover of both crafts and crochet, I like to honor these worthy pursuits by doing projects that satisfy both. So today, I hunkered down and got crafty for the purpose of restocking my yarn stash for future crochet projects. It was a yarn dyeing day! If you love to crochet, what natural progression but to “create” your own yarns. And the easiest place to start is dye your own. Some people shy away from hand dyeing yarn because they find it intimidating, especially when trying to make sense of supplies and techniques. (Where do I get dye kits? What’s a mordant? What yarn do I use? And so on.) In fact, basic hand dyeing yarn is easy, as long as you stick to simple rules. For a beginner, I recommend that you use wool (it easily absorbs dyes; cottons and synthetic require different dyes and mordant), a simple dye, and a...
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