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New Roots Blog

Best Nature Crafts for Kids

Kid twirling a stick trying to start a fire over a pile of small twigs, wearing a brown jacket

If you’re a parent with kids, or of a similar age to other parents with kids, you’re sure to remember all the nature crafts you used to make as a kid. Crafts using stones, leaves, branches, pinecones, and moss. Creating nature crafts for kids used to be a time-tested pastime that seems to have gone a little bit out of style. At Wild&Immersive, we’re famous for using our natural world as a source of learning, creativity, and fun and we want to reignite our connection to nature.

If your family is looking for things to do, we have some great solutions you can use. We recommend going on a hike first and then creating crafts with found materials. It makes the process more identifiable and personal, and better yet, if you can share a picture of the planned crafts with your kids first, they will be goal-oriented once they arrive on their hike.

Our Favourite Nature Crafts

Painted Stones

Kids can use acrylic paint, pencil crayons, and pastels, and in using the natural contours of stones can create people, animals, cars, trucks, sunsets, and city scenes. These make great gifts for loved ones or place them around the yard for some natural decorations!

a nature craft of two stones painted to look like owls on a branch, one red and one light blue

Painted Walked Sticks

Get out some acrylic paint, put on your favourite painting clothes, and start painting some walking stick works-of-art today!

a nature craft of three painted walking sticks with vibrant stripes and patterns, resting on a log barn exterior wall

Leaf People & Animals

Using leaves, some glue, and other founds items, kids can create a natural world of quirky characters and fun scenes they can tell you about.

A deer made out of yellow, brown and green leaves

Yarned Walking Sticks

With spools of yarn in hand get your kids to wrap their branches and make colourful walking sticks. Wonderful for motor-skills development!

sticks with yarn wrapped around in colourful stripes of red, greens, blues, and greens

Hanging Ornamental Racks

Create a natural hanging rack that your kids can suspend ornaments from. Whether it’s Christmas Tree (like the image) or an abstract work of natural art, your kids will love show off their handiwork.

DIY Christmas tree made out of sticks and christmas balls

Pinecone Animals

This may mean a trip to the art store to pick-up some glue and wobbly eyes, but paint can work too! Felt works great as well for cutting into shapes for wings, beaks, and feathers.

a nature craft DIY pinecone owl with a pinecone body, wobbly eyes and felt feathers and wings

DIY Dreamcatcher

Using a centred out paper plate, or an old gasket from a glass jar, or any other mid-sized ring, some string, and any natural ornament kids can think of, you can create a meaning craft that’s good for a few hours of entertainment and a lot of fun!

nature craft of a dreamcatcher using a paper plate as the circle ring, and yarn and beads as the interior and hangings with feathers on the ends

Fairy Doors

Whether your child adds some colour and design to a found rock, assembles twigs and branches, or they get a little help from a grown-up with something more intricate, fairy doors are sure to add some whimsy around the house. Once finished, rest the fairy door against a tree, fence, or wall and then be ready to keep an eye out for Tinkerbell 🙂

Fairy Door among forest greenery

Hunting for Supplies

One of our favourite parts of making nature crafts is the variety of supplies you can find in our own backyard! You can do the same crafts over and over again and always create something unique. If you found some inspiration here, let us know! We’d love to see your natural creations.

PS: if you’re looking for more ideas, be sure to check out our DIY Pinecone Bird Feeder.