We are almost a week away from Christmas and still going strong with the holiday crafts! These look pretty as a wall hanging decoration, tree ornament or gift topper. So many possible uses for this simple craft! 

You don’t need your own pressed flowers and leaves, you can find many places on the internet to purchase them! I usually grab them from Amazon because the delivery is typically the quickest. You can also find pressed flowers and leaves on ETSY, but the shipping time might be a bit longer. I linked the exact kits that we used below. 

Ready to make one (or ten)? Here’s what you’ll need….

Supplies:

• Pine Needles
• Air Dry Clay- This 2.5 lb container makes about 18 ornaments. 
• Christmas Cookie Cutters- We used this kit, but this kit also looks great and there are more design options! 
• Pressed Flower and Pressed Leaves- The flower kit included tweezers which is very helpful for picking up the flowers and leaves.
• Straw for poking a hole
• Twine or metal ornament hooks
• Mod Podge– I suggest using this starter kit to see which type you prefer. Glossy is a shiny finish and matte is a flat finish. We used matte for this craft.

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RELATED: Check out Pine Needle Keepsake Ornament

Here’s How we Made these Nature Ornaments:

Step 1:

Roll out the clay. Kids will love to help with this step!

Step 2:

Choose cookie cutter designs and cut out your ornaments! We chose ornament shapes, but you could try any holiday shape!

Step 3:

Poke a hole with a straw for a hanging spot. We used a metal straw for this craft, but a plastic straw will work too. 

Step 4:

Organize the flowers and leaves on the ornaments and make sure you like the arrangement before gluing it all in place. As I stated above, use the tweezers for handling the pieces of nature!

Step 5:

Make sure you push the flowers and leaves into the clay with gentle pressure. This will help them stay in place when you apply the Mod Podge.

Once your ornaments are finished, put a layer of Mod Podge over the flowers and leaves. This will help them stay in place. I used a cookie rack to help the ornaments dry quicker but this isn’t necessary.

I have found that the ornaments dry in about 48 hours, but the drying time on the box is 2-3 days.

My boys instantly loved this activity and wanted to make multiple ornaments! They are pretty addictive to make and each ornament turned out unique and beautiful. You don’t have to stick to the red and green color scheme. We chose those colors because they looked pretty and festive! I think colorful flowers would look beautiful as well!

Which designs are your favorites?!

Pin this nature Christmas ornament to save it for later!

I hope you give this nature Christmas ornament a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Looking for more pine activity ideas?! Check out:

DIY Wax Paper Lantern

A Simple and Adorable Holiday Wreath for Kids

The post Nature Christmas Ornaments appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

I created this outdoor printable a while ago and we love it soooo much that I figured it was about time to share it with you all!

This nature journal is perfect for children of all ages because you can pick and choose nature prompts that are suitable for your child’s needs and interests. And don’t forget, the cover is a paper bag so collecting nature for the prompts is easy and contained in one spot!

Supplies

• Nature Collection Journal
• Lunch Bags– We bought ours from a store, but this looks like the same size.
• Nature
• Glue
• Scissors
• Crayons– We love beeswax crayons
• Stapler

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How to Make this Nature Journal for Kids!

Step 1: Assemble the journal pages

Choose the cover you would like to use and glue it on the lunch bag on the side without the flap. Cut out the journal pages you would like to use. There are 17 different nature prompts to choose from so there is something for everyone!

There are dashed lines to guide you. Try to put the nature craft prompt pages at the end of the journal, so the natural materials are available for the learning pages in the beginning of the journal.

Step 2: Make a back cover

I also used a paper bag for the back cover of the book, but stapled the top. I found having 2 bags available for collecting was too much for my boys to handle. I stapled the journal pages to my back cover.

Step 3: Staple the front cover

Staple the front cover to the rest of the journal. Lift open the side of the bag and ONLY staple the inside half. Only staple 2/3 of the way down so you don’t staple the bottom flap. This will allow the whole bag to open and fold back up!

Your bag should be able to open like this after you completed these steps! Your nature journal for kids is ready to go!

Here’s What We Did

First, you need to head outdoors to collect nature! Find a wide variety of nature and aim to find most of the items on the ground. Yes, my boys usually pick a couple of flowers but we love to search for rocks, sticks, leaves, pinecones, acorns and more on the ground!

I used 7 pages in the nature journal for this particular day.

We made nature rubbings by putting leaves under the paper and coloring on the journal page to expose the leaf outline and veins.

We also made a nature print by painting leaves and stamping them on the journal. Make sure you give the paint enough time to dry before turning the page!

We also counted nature and documented our findings on the journal page. There is a section for writing tally marks and the numbers.

This nature person page is always a favorite and its fun to see how our nature person changes through the season. This is our fall nature person! The fading flowers and colorful leaves look sooo beautiful.

We love searching for symmetry in nature during our nature walks! Here is a simple hands-on way to learn about this interesting math topic. Find a leaf, cut it in half and invite your child to draw the other half. This also gives children the opportunity to look closely at the beautiful details in nature.

My boys LOVE tracing nature. It’s a fun way to work on those fine motor and writing skills!

Need an extension idea? Invite your kids to color in the outline when finished.

This prompt always invokes oohs and aahs from my boys! Take a leaf (of any color), flower, or experiment with other pieces of nature and rub it in the circle! What colors do you see? This might inspire you to color with nature in future art activities!

One thing that I love about this nature journal for kids is that YOU get to assemble it, so you can decide which of the 17 nature prompt pages are best for your children!

When I first introduced this journal to my boys, I included one of every page to see which prompts they were most interested in. My boys were loving making nature people last spring, so I printed that page 10 times and made a journal with just that prompt! They loved it:) My first grader is currently loving the math activities, so last week I made a journal with just the math activities. Enjoy the process and have FUN!

Pin this activity to save it for later!

I hope you give this nature journal for kids a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more fun ideas?! Check out:

Hands-On Ways to Retell Room on the Broom

A Simple Stone Activity to Try Today!

The post Nature Collection Journal for Kids appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Check out 20+ FREE OUTDOOR NATURE WALK CHECKLIST AND SCAVENGER HUNT PRINTABLES for more fun ideas!

Ready for some fun and creative butterfly activities that children will love?! 

Giant Butterfly Identification Chart

This chart is really fun to create and looks beautiful when complete. Here’s how me made it:

1. Print out the labels, butterflies, and poster from the packet.
2. You can choose to skip this step, but I suggest laminating the pieces of paper if you want to try this activity multiple times. My boys were begging me to try it again as soon as they were finished so I highly recommend it! Plus you can reuse the laminated pieces for the activities below as well. That’s as huge timesaver!
3. Cut out the labels and butterflies.
4. Tape contact paper on the wall, sticky side out. Contact paper is an inexpensive material that has a decorative surface on one side and an adhesive material on the other side. The paper sticks to the desired surface with minimal effort. We just used white contact paper.
5. We hung the butterfly poster above our chart for extra reference. I framed it with a document frame.
6. Set the butterflies out on a table and invite your child to look carefully at the features on the butterflies and match them to the correct label. We talked about their colors, designs and wing shapes as my boys matched them.
7. Do your kids have extra energy? Move the butterflies across the room and turn it into a movement activity!
8. If you laminated the pieces, just peel them off and they are ready to go for the next activity.

Outdoor Butterfly Fact Scavenger Hunt

This activity not only focuses on butterfly identification but also helps your child learn more about various butterfly species. Here’s what we did:

1. Print off butterflies, fact cards, and recording sheet of your choice from the packet. We printed off the butterfly checklist for my four year old and butterfly list for my six year old.
2. First glue the butterflies to clothespins. Feel free to use the same cut out butterflies as the previous activity! I presented the butterflies a different way for this activity by cutting on the circle outline instead of the actual butterfly.
3. Clip the butterflies around your yard before the activity.
4. Once you finished that, put the recording sheets on clipboards, gather your fact cards, and start searching for the butterflies!
5. As you find the butterflies, mark them on the recording sheet and read the three interesting facts on the card. This is a really fun way to move around and learn at the same time. Keep going until you find all ten!
6. If its raining outside or you don’t have the outdoor space, you can always do this activity indoors!

Sensory Butterfly Identification Activities

These activities are guaranteed to keep your kids busy for a while!

For the sensory bin, I poured rainbow rice into our bin and added wooden pieces, glass gems, and various wooded scoops/sensory tools. I added the butterfly poster to encourage butterfly identification practice.

For the butterfly play dough tray, I added blue glass gems, pebbles, fake flowers, and play dough tools. We talked about the benefits of butterfly feeders and made one on the play dough tray!

During both activities, we talked about the colors, designs and wing shapes of the butterflies as they matched them to the poster.

Stick Butterfly Bouquet

This is another activity that can be enjoyed over and over again! We attached the butterflies on sticks with velcro dots so my boys loved peeling them off the velcro and sticking them in different spots. Without prompting, they discussed the butterfly attributes that we have been studying all week and shared their favorite butterflies with each other. It was exciting to watch them learn through play!

At one point, my boys started running around the house with their favorite butterfly stick and it got me thinking about all the different ways to enjoy this activity! Here’s a few more I thought of:

1.  Butterfly wand
2.  Butterfly hiking stick
3. Mother’s Day butterfly stick bouquet

Velcro Butterfly Stones

Check out this beautiful invitation to sort butterfly types! Here’s how we set it up:

1. Print the butterfly labels and butterflies from the packet or reuse the butterflies if you tried a previous activity.
2. Use the same velcro dots as the stick butterfly bouquet activity and put as many as you need on each stone.
3. Put the other side of the velcro dots on the butterflies and place them on the table near near the labels.
4. I didn’t give my boys any direction for the activity but they naturally started sorting them on their own. They were so excited to tell me the names of the butterflies and share a fact or two that they remembered from the outdoor scavenger hunt!

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Please Pin this activity if you love it!

I hope you give these fun activities a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more creative outdoor ideas?!

Check out 25+ Nature-Inspired Summer Activities for Kids

The post Hands-On Butterfly Identification Activities for Kids appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

I have a slight obsession with this activity! I’m a huge fan of simple and beautiful nature activities and this fits that definition perfectly.

I also love reusable supplies and Wikki Stix just might be my favorite supply in this category.

Wikkis Stix are made of hand-knitting yarn enhanced with a microcrystalline, food-grade non-toxic wax. This is the same ingredient in bubble gum and lipstick. I love Wikkis Stix because they are a no mess craft supply. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good messy process art activity but sometimes it’s nice just to set out the supplies and know there won’t be a huge clean up session at the end.

How do they work? Just press them down with light fingertip pressure on virtually any smooth surface and they will stick. They are also easy to peel up and reposition and you can use them over and over again! They don’t don’t break or tear apart, but are easily cut with scissors. Awesome, right?!

Let’s get to the activity….

Supplies:

• Stones-We collect ours from the lake. If you don’t have a spot in nature to collect stones, I recommend purchasing from the Dollar Store or craft store. OR try a different piece of nature! We’ll be trying this activity with seashells and pumpkins!
• Wikki Stix

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Here’s What We Did:

There are really no steps to this activity. I set out the stones and Wikki Stix and let the boys explore. I cut a couple Wikki Stix into smaller pieces but other than that, I just set them out.

My boys were so excited to experiment with the materials because it’s been at least a year since I’ve brought out Wikki Stix and we’ve never tried using them with stones!

Leo started wrapping them around the rock and quickly discovered that the Wikki Stix stick together if you gently press them so he started this stacking trick!

He was so excited to build the rock tower! Pretty clever if you ask me.

I couldn’t sit out on the sidelines for this one so I got in on the fun and started creating too! There is something so calming and satisfying about this activity. It would make the perfect calming tool! Just put a couple of stones and a pack of Wikki Stix in a Ziplock bag and bring it out if your little one needs a calming activity to sooth those big emotions.

Leo tried to mimic my spiral rock and had difficulties at first. He had a great mindset and said, “this is hard, but I’m getting the hang of it!” I loved his persistence and look at those fine motor skills hard at work!

Sonny enjoyed wrapping the stones and they came out gorgeous! I love the layers to this creation.

The possibilities are endless with these two supplies! Have fun and enjoy the process.

Please Pin this activity if you love it!

I hope you give this simple activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature activities?! Check out:

A Simple Stone Activity to Try Today!

Beaded Sticks

The post Wikki Stix and Stones- A Must Try Activity! appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

It’s the middle of summer and my boys need a little extra nudge to go on ANOTHER hike. Don’t get me wrong they are great hiking buddies once we make it outside, but the screen time is starting to creep up and a little incentive to get off the couch is just what they need.

We’ve made a musical hiking stick in the past and that was a hit, so I thought it would be fun to create a flower hiking stick with bits of nature we found in our yard. I knew my boys would be so proud of their creations and want to take it out for a spin;)

Supplies:

• Flowers and/or leaves- We used 2 different varieties of hydrangeas, flower petals from various flowers, and ferns. If you don’t currently have flowers to press, you can purchase them HERE. We used these for a hiking stick and it turned out STUNNING! You can see it HERE.
• Hiking stick- We used a pieces of driftwood, but you can experiment with other types of sticks or whittle a section of a regular stick to create a smooth section to work with.
• Mod Podge- We used outdoor Mod Podge but I’m sure the glossy Mod Podge would work just fine. Just remember to keep it inside or in the garage so it’s not exposed to the elements.

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

If you like this idea, then check out: Get kids outside With These 10 DIY Hiking Sticks!

Here’s How We Made It:

Step 1:

Find a hiking stick. As mentioned above, we used a piece of driftwood.

Step 2:

Put a little Mod Podge on the stick. We tried outdoor Mod Podge for this craft, but I think the glossy Mod Podge that you can find in most stores would also work just fine! Just remember to keep it inside or in the garage so it’s not exposed to the elements.

Step 3:

Place the flower or leaf on the Mod Podge. Here’s a little tip: I pressed the flower between my fingertips for a couple of seconds to flatten it out a bit before putting on the stick.

Step 4:

Cover the piece of nature with another layer of Mod Podge.

Step 5:

Continue this process until you are finished putting your pieces of nature on the stick.

Step 6:

Wait about 20 minutes for it to dry and add another layer if needed.

As you can see, we were outside testing it out as soon as the Mod Podge dried. Mission accomplished!

I hope you give this fun activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more creative outdoor ideas?!

Check out another type of hiking stick in How to Create a Musical Forest.

This is included in 25+ Nature-Inspired Summer Activities for Kids. See the rest here.

The post How to Make a Flower Hiking Stick appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Nature weaving might be one of our favorite activities! It strengthens fine motor skills, keeps my kids busy for a while, and the creations always turn out so gorgeous. This fun pine tree variation has become a Christmas tradition for us! My boys make a few every holiday season and decorate our home with their lovely creations. 

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

Supplies

• Cardboard
• Pine Tree Branches/ Other Pieces of Nature
• Rubber Bands
• Scissors
• Pick a Pine Tree

About Pick a Pine Tree

Pick a Pine Tree by Patricia Toht and Jarvis is an adorable book that takes the reader on the exciting and fun journey of picking out and decorating a pine tree for Christmas. The rhythmic narrative and colorful illustrations pull the reader in and makes this an irresistible holiday book that belongs on every bookshelf.  You can see the beautiful illustrations and learn more about it here.

RELATED: Countdown to Christmas with 25 of the Most Beautiful Holiday Picture Books!

The Pine Tree Craft

1. Decide where you want to get your pine tree branches.

We found some branches laying on the ground outside, but you can gather them from a holiday bouquet or your own Christmas tree! The berries that you see in our project are from a bouquet. Please note that many berries are toxic to people and animals, so make sure your children are old enough to handle them or purchase fake berries. 

2. Draw a simple triangle shaped pine tree on a piece of cardboard and cut it out.

3. Cut out little lines on the side of the triangle part of the pine tree. I suggest four to six cuts on each side of the triangle. These will secure the rubber bands in their spot. 

4. Slide the rubber bands into the little cuts you made on the triangle. You can crisscross the rubber bands or go straight across. I find mixing it up helps with the weaving process.

4. Place the pieces of nature around the cardboard pine tree. Depending on the age of your child, you might need to model the process of weaving the pine branches in the rubber bands. Once children get the hang of it, they will want to make a bunch of pine trees! Try hanging them on the wall, placing them on a holiday themed shelf, or put them on the Christmas tree! Yes, they also make cute ornaments. How will you use your cute pine tree crafts this holiday or winter season?! 

I hope you give this pine tree craft a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more nature-inspired ideas?! Check out:

Our Favorite Seasonal Nature Activity!

The post Pick a Pine Tree Nature Craft appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

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First things first! I want to thank Melissa from Little x Little Photography for collaborating with me on this fun project and letting us test this idea in her gorgeous studio. I know you will enjoy her photos as much as I do!

Supplies

• Pine Cones (Small or Large– I got my large pinecones from Trader Joe’s but these look similar)
• Star Paper Puncher
• Flowers, Leaves, or Other Pieces of Nature
• Gem Stickers
• Bells and Pipe Cleaners

Step 1: Gather your Pieces of Nature

I first heard of the genius nature confetti idea from Mother Natured. Nature confetti is wonderful because it’s biodegradable and won’t harm the environment or animals. On the other hand, the confetti and glitter that most people use for celebrations is made up of tiny pieces of plastic. These little pieces can end up in landfills or waterways and is a known environmental hazard for the oceans. Needless to say, I am now sold on this gorgeous nature confetti idea!

Our New Year’s Eve nature confetti is a little different from your typical nature confetti. In addition to the beautiful bouquet flowers we bought for the activity, I’ve been saving and pressing pieces of nature from special events throughout the year to add to the confetti. I added a couple wildflowers from memorable hikes, leaves from the first day of fall, and other special moments pressed in between the pages of books all over our house.

I displayed these gorgeous pieces of nature on the table and we reminisced about those special times we’ve had together this past year. This little step made this activity a little extra special and meaningful.

Step 2: Prepare Your Nature Confetti

This step was a lot of fun! My boys had fun working on their fine motor skills by tearing, cutting, and punching pieces of nature for our confetti. We used a star paper puncher to punch flower petals and leaves. The paper punch is really fun to use and the stars made the confetti a bit more festive!

Step 3: Prepare Pine Cone Shakers

Who knew pinecones make a the perfect confetti shaker?! This idea randomly came to me one day and I was so excited to try it!

First we added a little sparkle to the pinecone by adding gem stickers. This step is totally optional, but we also use these shakers as holiday decorations, so the gems make them a little more seasonal and decorative. Plus they mimic the shimmery glitter when you shake it. We’ll be saving these for years to come!

Next we added the bells. Leo threaded the bells with the pipe cleaners and I twisted them to the top of each pinecone. Now you have a nature confetti shaker and noise maker all in one!

I put the pinecones in a star shaped container and I stuffed them full of confetti. Try to get a lot of confetti on the ridges!

Step 4: Celebrate and Shake!

We tested out both small and large pinecones.

My boys grabbed one small pinecone in each hand and started shaking! The nature confetti flew around and they loved watching all the colors dance around them.

Last we tried the large pinecones! They were really big but my boys were able to hold on to them with no problems. These pinecones can hold a lot of confetti and it was a lot of fun to watch the boys shake it all out!

We can’t wait to try it again on New Year’s Eve!

I hope you give this fun activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Don’t put away that bouquet of flowers just yet! Check out A Simple and Beautiful Nature Craft to Try Today.

Check out More of Melissa’s Stunning Photography Here!

The post Pinecone Nature Confetti Shakers for New Year’s Eve appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

We’ve had some nasty weather the past couple of days. With hail storms during the day and freezing temps at night, I knew our beloved mums would not last much longer in the planter. I decided to use them to decorate our pumpkins and give them one last chance to be displayed in all their glory! Here’s how we did it:

Supplies

• Pumpkin
• Mums or Another Flower
• Hammer
• Mallet
• Golf Tees

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How to Make This No Carve Pumpkin Design

Step 1: Pound Golf Tees Into a Pumpkin

We started this no carve pumpkin design by pounding golf tees into the pumpkin to create holes for the mum flower stems. I’ve seen this going around Pinterest and have wanted to give it a try for a while now. This is such a great activity for fine motor work and kept my boys busy for about an hour!

I poked about 30 golf tees just through the skin of the pumpkin and set out the plastic hammer for my boys. We went over the ground rules first and talked about being safe with the hammer and taking turns with the tool.

Step 2: Pull out the Golf Tees

This step was a little bit tricky. My boys were able to help me with a few of the golf tees, but I had to pull most of them out myself. Here are a couple of tricks that helped make this step really simple:

1. Twist the golf tees as you pull them out.
2. If that doesn’t work, use the other end of a hammer to pull them out.

Step 3: Poke the Mum Stems Through the Holes

Now that the golf tees are out, you have the perfect sized holes for those little mum stems. We pulled the leaves off the stems and poked them right through the holes! We found that stems only a couple of inches long worked the best.

If you don’t have mums, try another flower! I’m sure it would be just as beautiful as our mum pumpkin, AKA mumpkin. When your mumpkin is complete, set it out on your front porch and it will last for about a week! The mums will start to shrivel a bit, but the color will last for a while. 

If you try this activity, tag me on Instagram! I’d love to see how your mumpkin turns out!

I hope you give this fun no carve pumpkin design a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more outdoor fun?! Check out:

A Simple and Beautiful Nature Craft to Try Today!

How to Decorate Pumpkins With Pieces of Nature

The post The Cutest No-Carve Pumpkin Design appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

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Fall is the time of year that people naturally stop to think about how grateful they are for many different things in their lives. Being a mom of two young kids, I immediately think about my children’s grandparents and how they help us out so much throughout the year. I wanted my boys to make something for them to show our gratitude for their love, guidance, and support that they offer us!

Personalized Apple Keepsake Gift

This sweet piece of apple home decor isn’t complete without the finishing touches from your child. Paint your child’s thumb and stamp 5 apples on the apple tree branches. Add a document frame and you have an adorable piece of art that looks great hung on the wall! We got our frame from the Dollar Tree and it finished the piece off really nicely.

Customize the Gift

There are so many ways to customize this gift for the person you have in mind. Or just keep it simple and add apples from the grocery store or picked by your child at the apple orchard (if it’s late summer or early fall).

Try adding these items to the basket:

1. buy or create an apple themed cookbook
2. make a caramel apple basket or just add caramel by pouring dipping caramel into and glass jar and tie twine around the top of the jar
3. make a DIY apple pie candle
4. make homemade apple butter
5. make apple cinnamon pancake mix

Would you add anything to the basket? If so, comment below!

I hope you give this fun activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more gift ideas?! Check out Father’s Day Book and Stacking Stone Craft (this also comes in and uncle and grandpa version) and Mother’s Day Book and Sun Catcher Craft (this also comes in an aunt and grandma version).

The post A Nature Gift Created by Kids- Apples appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Supplies

• Jewelry Wire
• Beads (from Michaels Craft Store)
• Scissors
• Thin Sharpie Markers
• A piece of nature to wrap and draw on. We used a large stick.

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

The Activity

We spent the morning at the beach. My boys had so much fun throwing rocks into the lake and exploring the shore. We found beautiful colored rocks, sea glass, and observed insects on logs and driftwood! We identified ladybugs, ants, and bees. I knew the perfect insect craft to create with my boys when we got home!

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies for the Insect Craft

Grab your scissors, wire, beads, Sharpies, and piece of nature! Once you decide on the insects you want to create, you might want to look them up in an anatomy book so you can choose beads that resemble the parts of the insects you are making. As you can see below, we used a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes to make our insect craft. Also, make sure you choose a piece of nature that you can draw on!

Step 3: Tie a Knot

I cut about two and a half feet of wire per bug. I tied a knot in the middle of the wire to keep the beads in place.

Step 3: String the Beads

Leo helped me string the beads on the wire. After the beads were on the string, tie another knot at the other end of the beads.

Step 4: Draw Insect Details

It’s a good idea to draw the insect details before you wrap the wire because the wire will most likely be in your drawing space after the wire is wrapped. I held the beaded wire in the spot I wanted to wrap it and Leo helped draw the antenna and legs. I drew the butterfly wings because that was too difficult for him. This insect craft definitely a collaborative effort!

Step 5: Wrap Wire Around Piece of Nature

Leo helped me wrap the wire around the stick, but I needed to tighten it up move it back in place so it lined up with the drawings.

When we were finished, we compared our ant and butterfly to the insects in the book Nature Anatomy!

The Skills we Built

Fine Motor Skills

Putting the beads on the wire helps improve hand eye coordination and holding/pulling the wire helps strengthen hand muscles.

Insect Identification and Anatomy

Observing insects gives children the opportunity to work on insect identification skills. Making the insect craft helps them learn the basic parts of the insects.

I hope you give this fun insect craft a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more outdoor fun?! Check out:

A Simple and Beautiful Nature Craft to Try Today!

A Simple Spider Anatomy Activity for Kids

The post Insect Handcraft for Kids appeared first on Little Pine Learners.