Here is my fall version of my viral pressed flower magnetic tiles! I loved that DIY so much that I had to recreate it for fall and I *think* I like these even more than the flowers! The leaf stickers that I found are so realistic and stunning. These tiles are incredibly durable and the pressed leaf stickers have a strong adhesive.  This DIY toy is perfect for little hands!

These make a wonderful and unique birthday or holiday gift for kids! They would be perfect to add to a fall equinox gift basket. Make a bunch of these magnetic tiles and place them in a basket along with fall books and other fun fall gifts, and give it to a special child in your life!

Ready to give it a try!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies for the DIY Leaf Activity for Kids:

• Clear Magnetic Tiles– This activity has been such a big hit that the first set of magnetic tiles that I used is sold out on Amazon and their website! They tend to go back in and out of stock, so you can TAP HERE to see if they are currently available. If they are not in stock, then try the following brands! I have used these as well and they work well for the DIY! This Magna-Tile set comes with 16 tiles and I found its the perfect amount to mix in with our regular colorful set of tiles. Imagsimags also work well and of course Connetix Tiles are gorgeous! 
• Pressed Leaf Stickers– The adhesive on these brands are super strong and great for this activity!  This set of leaf stickers offers larger leaves and allows for one leaf per tile. 
• Light Pad– This is optional, but a fun accessory for any magnetic tile fan! You can see this in action on my Pressed Flower Magnetic Tile Post. 
• Flameless Tea Lights– I started adding these lights to my magnetic tile section of my classroom and they are a big hit! 

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Here’s How I Made the Magnetic Tiles:

These are so easy to make! Just peel the leaves and stick them on the magnetic tiles. You can combine the small and large leaf stickers or place just one sticker on each tile. It’s up to you how you want to decorate them!

How to Play with these Leafy Magnetic Tiles!

Try identifying the leaves with your child. It’s a fun challenge and great way to learn nature identification. The perfect leaf activity for kids!

They looked so beautiful in the sunlight! This presented a great opportunity to learn about shadows! The leaf shadows are gorgeous and fun to look at.

We also had fun stacking them on our sliding door. The tiles made a pretty sun catcher! They are also fun to arrange on the refrigerator or any metal surface. 

These are also so fun to play with on a light pad! The magnetic tiles are almost like DIY pressed leaf specimens. I’ve had this same light pad in my early childhood classroom for years and it has proven to be durable and long lasting! I guarantee the children will love stacking the tiles on and around the light pad!

We also loved making fall castles! My kindergarteners loved making up stories about the king and queen that lived inside the leafy castle. This fall activity offers kids the great opportunity to work on their language skills through storytelling! 

There are so many ways to play with these magnetic tiles! Perhaps the best way is to place them with other loose parts toys and let children come up with their own activities! The sky is the limit with these. 

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Here is a magnetic tile castle with flameless tea lights! So pretty. 

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I hope you enjoy this leaf activity as much as I do!

-Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

Stunning Leaf Lanterns

Leaf Sensory Writing Tray

The post A Leaf Activity for Kids appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

If you are looking for a fun new center for your classroom or learning invitation for home, this is it! I will be sharing with you the easiest way of preserving flowers in resin and some fun ideas for how to use them. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A CRAFT FOR ADULTS ONLY! DO NOT LET CHILDREN HANDLE THE RESIN BOTTLES, LIQUID, OR PIECES UNTIL THEY ARE FULLY CURED. 

Ready to make a set? Here’s what you’ll need….

Supplies:

• Epoxy resin– This is enough to make the alphabet letters, numbers, and more! There are little finger protectors in the kit. I suggest rolling those over your gloved thumb and pointer fingers on your dominant work hand. You might want to purchase additional gloves because this can get pretty messy!
• Molds– Make sure you order molds specifically for resin! The inside of the molds need to be shinny. Don’t use molds with a matte finish, or the bottom/sides of your cured resin pieces will have a frosted finish. We made numbers, hearts and stars this time around. 
• Dried flowers– It’s the middle of winter for me, so I purchased some from Amazon! I’ll share how to dry flowers below if you want to go that route. 
• Tweezers– This kit has great resin tools.
• Measuring cups– The resin kit linked above comes with small measuring cups, but I found it difficult to read the measurements on the cups. These 3 cups are great for measuring, mixing, and pouring into the molds.
• Sandpaper- I used a fine sandpaper

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

RELATED: Check out 20+ Pressed Flower Crafts

Preserving Flowers in Resin:

Step 1:

First, choose how you want to dry your flowers. It’s important that your flowers are 100% dry or they will turn brown or yellow with timed. Click on the techniques below to learn more: 

1. Press your flowers. 
2. Microwave your flowers.
3. Or purchase them already dried. This is great for the winter months when you might not have flowers available. 

Step 2:

Next, take the time to prepare your work station! This is SO important. This is a rather messy project, so I suggest laying a plastic garbage bag flat on your work surface to protect your table. Also, make sure all of your supplies are in order and ready to go. I suggest choosing the flowers and leaves you would like to use and lay them on the garbage bag. Make sure the flowers aren’t too big for the resin mold. If they are too big, cut them in half or trim them down before you get started. 

Step 3:

Make sure you put on your gloves before you start working with resin! If you happen to get some on your skin, try to wash it off with soap and water right away. If that doesn’t work,  you can try soaking a cotton ball in vinegar or acetone and rubbing it on your skin. To be on the safe side, I also suggest working in a well ventilated room and wearing a mask when handling resin to protect yourself from the fumes. The type I used is low scent, but it’s always smart to be extra safe! Don’t allow children near you when you are working with the resin. 

Now you are all set! Make sure to carefully follow the instructions on your epoxy resin bottles. Most are a 1:1 ratio but yours may be different. I mixed equal parts resin and hardener and slowly stirred for 2-3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixture cup multiple times during the stirring process. 

Step 4:

Pour a little resin into the mold, then use a tweezer to place the pieces of nature into the mold. Make sure your flowers are facing the correct way when you place them into the mold. My mold is backwards, so I put the front of the flower facing down in the mold. Now add more resin over the flowers and leaves. When preserving flowers in resin, make sure you entirely cover the pieces of nature with the mixture! You can use a toothpick to press the nature bits down if they float up to the surface. 

Step 5: 

Lastly, you need to pop any bubbles that come to the surface. I used one of the resin tools in the tweezer kit linked above, but you could also use a toothpick. Check back every 5 minutes or so during the first 30 minutes of curing to pop bubbles.

Now is the hard part! Let your resin cure. My resin took 24 hours. I tried to take one out at the ten hour mark and it was way too soft. Just be patient and WAIT! Once they are ready, just pop them out of the molds. If you are having a hard time getting them out, pop them in the freezer for a bit and try again. Luckily, I had no problems with this. 

Kids will LOVE holding, learning, and playing with these! If you have any rough or sharp edges when you pop the resin pieces out, make sure you sand them down. I only had a few that needed some sanding on the edges.

These make the best loose parts! Check out this fun heart mandala made by my 7 year old.

Children will love lining up the numbers in order.

You can also hide resin shapes in a sensory bin and invite children to find the correct amount of shapes to match the numbers!

Pin this activity to save it for later!

I hope you try preserving flowers in resin! I promise, your little nature lovers will love these gorgeous pieces as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Looking for more nature craft ideas?! Check out:

Nature Collection Journal for Kids

How to Make Nature Pinch Pots

The post Preserving Flowers in Resin appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

I try a lot of nature activities with my boys, but only share my biggest hits here! Our favorite activities are usually easy to prep, fun to play and create with, and can be reused multiple times. This activity checks all of those boxes!

We brought it along during our last nature walk and my boys continued to play with it when we got home. They loved using the box to practice counting, organizing and sorting, and now it’s displayed on their dresser. There are a few holes empty, so they are already talking about getting outside and finishing their box tomorrow!

 Ready to make a one!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• A cardboard box
• Scissors
• Sharp Pencil
• Pieces of nature
• Twine

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

RELATED: Cardboard Nature Display

Here’s How to Make the Nature Poke Box:

Step 1:

If you plan on taking it on nature walks, I suggest putting some kind of handle on your box. I created twine handles and secured them by tying a knot on the inside of the box. The random piece of string you see there is from the knot on the other side. The string was a little longer over there. 

Also, I suggest cutting out the inside flaps, so you only have one layer to poke through. I did not do this, so we had issues poking nature pieces through a few of the holes. 

Step 2:

You can skip this step if you would like, but the box I had was a bit of a mess. I decided to add a piece of white card stock to clean up the top of the box. I placed the card stock on the top of the box and creased it for cutting lines. 

Now glue the card stock to the box top and poke holes with a sharp pencil. 

It’s time to head outside and search for the perfect pieces of nature to display! The colors are starting to change in Wisconsin, so we found some beautiful leaves to display. 

The handles were perfect for carrying! The boys were so proud of their portable display and it got a lot of compliments from people walking past us!

This is the perfect activity for building fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. 

The next time your kids need a little nudge to get outside, give this activity a try! They will love building their very own nature display. 

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you give this simple nature activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love this one.

∼Tara

Need more nature crafts ideas?! Check out:

Nature Collection Journal

Easy Porcupine Nature Craft

The post Nature Poke Box appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Here’s a fun and easy fall or Halloween craft that also encourages fine motor skills! Fine motor activities are great for developing and strengthening those smaller finger movements which will help your little ones when they are ready to start writing.   

You can also try this spider web activity if you are studying spiders with your kids. Whatever the reason, this one turns out beautiful each and every time! 

Get outside and try this today!

Ready to give it a try!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• A piece of cardboard
• Twine
• Paper punch
• Spider
• Pieces of nature

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

RELATED: Check out 50+ Beautiful Fall Nature-Inspired Books for Kids

Here’s How to Make Your Spider Web Activity Board:

Step 1:

Cut out a piece of cardboard. You can cut it in a circular shape to make it look more like a spider web, or stick with a simple rectangle. 

Next, use a paper punch to make holes on the perimeter of your piece of cardboard. 

Step 2: 

Tie a knot on the back of the board to secure your piece of twine or string. 

Step 3: 

Create the web by threading the twine through the paper punched holes. Make sure to pull the twine to keep it tight on the board. 

When you are all finished making your web, tie it on the back of the board.

Add a spider and you are ready for weaving! If you don’t have a spider, you can always draw one on the board. 

Now for the REALLY fun part! Head to your yard and search for different objects to weave into your web. Since we are in between seasons, we found a wide variety of nature to weave. 

We talked about the different colors, textures, and names of the pieces of nature.  We also discussed which objects were easiest to weave. This spider web activity is SO pretty!

When you are finished, you can either press your pieces of nature on the board or remove the pieces of nature and reuse the board another day!

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you give this simple spider web activity a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love this one.

∼Tara

Need more cardboard nature crafts ideas?! Check out:

Easy Porcupine Nature Craft

Sunflower Seed Sweep {3 Fine Motor Activities}

The post Spider Web Nature Weaving Activity appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

We love this sweeping activity so much that we’ve done it with leaves, pine needles, flower petals, and bird seed! 

Check out the end of the post where I share two new ways to use this activity board. 

Ready to give these sunflower activities a try?! Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Sunflower Seeds
• Black Beans if allergic to sunflower seeds
• Box lid
• Markers
• Paintbrushes

Optional:

• Tweezers
• Glue

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RELATED: Check out Rainbow Flower Threading Board

Here’s What We Did:

Step 1:

First, find a cardboard box lid and draw a sunflower outline on the inside part of the lid. This can be as basic or detailed at you want it to be. I searched “how to draw a sunflower” on Pinterest and just followed the instructions step by step!

Step 2:

Spread your sunflower seeds around your sunflower. I rinsed the salt off of the sunflower seeds and let them dry first because I didn’t want a salty/powdery residue on the box. 

*If you are working with a classroom of kids or your child has a sunflower allergy, try dried black beans! They look similar and have the same effect.*

Sunflower Activity 1:

Now you are all set to invite your child to sweep the seeds into the sunflower’s head. This is a fun way to work on pencil grip and strengthen those fine motor muscles. Activities like this help prepare your child to hold a pencil correctly and write properly! 

Children also love the challenge of sweeping the seeds into one spot. It’s more difficult than you would think and will keep your little one busy for a while!

This activity helps children make the connection that sunflower seeds grow in the head of the sunflower and will also help them identify the seeds in the future!

It looks so cute when complete!

Sunflower Activity 2:

Ok, I know what you are thinking…this is adorable and I want more sunflower activities!

Here is another idea:

You can also place the seeds in the sunflower head and invite your child to tweeze the seeds out! This is another great fine motor activity and fun way to pluck the sunflower seeds. I used less seeds for this activity than the sweeping option. It seemed a bit overwhelming and the tweezers take much longer to use. 

This activity is a new favorite in our house!

Sunflower Activity 3:

Try turning this into a permanent piece of art! After trying the other sunflower activities, you can glue the seeds in place and hang it on your wall! Kids will love squeezing the glue bottle and can use the tweezers or their fingers to put the seeds on the sunflower head. 

My little guy was proud of his work!

Pin this activity to save it for later!

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

∼Tara

Looking for more easy fine motor activity ideas?! Check out:

A Simple Butterfly Symmetry Activity

Double-Sided Nature Crown Board

The post Sunflower Seed Sweep {3 Fine Motor Activities} appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Today is the summer solstice, so it’s officially summer! We spent the morning watering the flowers in our garden and I was struck with some inspiration from the new blooms in our yard. 

I grabbed a couple of barbies from my classroom bin, a few other supplies, and my boys helped me pick a few garden flowers for the activity. 

I had a couple of ideas in mind for making some DIY doll clothes and spent the afternoon testing them out. Check out the results below!

Ready to give it a try!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Dolls
• Double-Sided Tape– You might want a couple of packs.
• White Contact Paper– You can find all different types and patterns, but we used white. 
• Nature
• Scissors

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

RELATED: Check out Fun Ways to Collect and Craft With Nature in All Four Seasons

Here’s How I Made the Clothes:

The first way to make DIY doll clothes:

This way is super simple! Just put strips of double-sided tape over your existing doll clothes. Use little strips of tape and cover the whole outfit. You can hardly see the tape on the photo below, but I promise it’s on there!

Then you can stick little pieces of nature right on the tape! We used daisies and daisy leaves for this outfit. The pieces of nature stuck really well to the double-sided tape.

When you are finished, you can peel the tape off the DIY doll clothes. Just be gentle when you remove the tape so you don’t damage the clothing. She looks ready for a summer solstice party!

The second way to make DIY doll clothes:

This way does not require doll clothing. First I cut one little strip of contact paper and wrapped it around the doll for a top. Then I cut a longer piece of contact paper for a skirt. Both of these pieces were simple rectangle shapes that I wrapped around the doll. They stuck together and made the perfect dress!

You can also make little straps out of contact paper, but I thought it would be fun to make nature straps. Make sure the sticky side is facing out!

Now head to the garden and decorate the contact paper dress! First I used these beautiful delicate purple flowers. They stuck really nicely. Then I added a couple of daisies and those were a bit heavier and fell off after a minute or two. DIY doll clothes don’t get any prettier than this!

Ferns worked much better and made the perfect strap for the dress. You can let the pieces of nature dry on the contact paper and and start with a new contact paper dress when you are finished!

Both ways worked well, but I would use the double-sided tape if you have heavier flowers in mind!

Pin it and save it for later!

I hope you try making some DIY doll clothes! I promise, your little nature lovers will love this one.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

Dandelion Shape Threading Boards

Double-Sided Nature Crown Board

The post How to Make Nature Doll Clothes appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

I LOVE Valentine’s Day! It’s the perfect time of year to talk about friendship, kindness, and do alllll of the heart activities! Here is my list of simple and beautiful heart activities that kids and adults will both love.

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RELATED: Check out 10+ Simple and Beautiful Stone Activities for Kids

1. Nature Heart Puzzle

This nature heart puzzle is unique and beautiful! It offers children the opportunity to work on spacial awareness by manipulating the pieces of nature to make them fit inside the heart shape! You can keep this activity fun and fresh by adding new seasonal pieces of nature from your area to the puzzle. Try seashells, sticks, flowers, or a combination of nature pieces!

2. Flower Petal Heart Sweep

This flower petal heart sweep activity is fun fine motor practice for preschoolers! This activity will give children the opportunity to work on hand-eye coordination, pencil grip, and other fine motor skills. Children will love the challenge of sweeping all of the flower petal pieces into the heart outline!

3. Reversible Sequin Heart Stone Craft

This heart rock craft is so great for so many reasons! Wether you’re looking for a calm down tool, a unique Valentine’s day gift for classmates or a teacher, or just want to try a new craft, then this one’s for you. The beautiful reversible sequins look stunning against the rocks and they are so soothing to play with.

4. Nature Heart Weaving Craft

Here is a simple nature heart weaving activity for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. The contrast of the natural cardboard heart with the colorful flowers, makes this the most beautiful gift to hand out on the holiday of your choice. What’s the best part? You just need a few supplies that you probably have laying around your house to make this nature craft.

5. Eucalyptus Hearts

This beautiful eucalyptus heart is so easy to make! Just make two loops with two eucalyptus stems and tie them together at the bottom. At this point, you can add sticker rhinestones to the leaves or stick flowers through the twine, where the loops are tied together. We found our eucalyptus at Trader Joe’s! If you can’t find eucalyptus, try flexible sticks (willow tree sticks) or find another piece of nature that can be looped together.

6. Sticky Paper Nature Heart Mandala

Try this beautiful nature mandala before you throw out those Valentine’s Day bouquets! We used flower petals and made leaf hearts with the help of a paper puncher. Then we put the petals and leaf hearts on contact paper so it would stick! Our conversation naturally turned to discussing all the different parts of a flower and the beautiful colors in the bouquet.

7. Melting Icy Hearts Activity

“Love Is” is the sweetest story about a girl and her duckling. It will melt your heart and is a must have for Valentine’s Day!

After reading this book, I invited my boys to melt frozen hearts with warm water. Just pour water with heart gems into the silicon heart mold and freeze them! Kids will love freeing the hearts from the ice chunks. It’s the perfect extension for this sweet book and this type of activity always keeps my boys entertained for at least 30 minutes!

8. Air Dry Clay Nature Valentine

These stunning flower petal Valentine’s are so easy to make and fun for kids of all ages! You can make endless designs on the air dry clay hearts and will make a beautiful home decoration or handmade Valentine.

9. Outdoor Frozen Heart Decoration

Looking for an easy activity to do on Valentine’s Day? Freeze a nature heart and hang it outside with someone you love! These are fun to watch melt as the weather gets warmer.

This beautiful photo is from Little x Little Photography.

10. Gratitude Heart Tree

Write down all of the things in nature you are thankful for and hang them on this gratitude tree! This is simple, educational, and fun to add to as Valentine week progresses! You can find the printable here.

Pin this activity to save it for later!

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

∼Tara

Looking for more nature activities for kids?! Check out:

How to Preserve Flowers for Nature Activities

A Simple and Beautiful Nature Craft to Try Today!

The post 10 Nature Heart Activities for Kids appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Before we get started, I want to tell you about an amazing HOMESTEAD BUNDLE that will be on sale until September 25! Resources are worth over $6,000, but are currently being offered at just $50! Click here to learn more about this one in a lifetime offer, which includes multiple homeschool Ebooks! Just download and enjoy! If you purchase this bundle, please send me a message on Instagram at @littlepinelearners. I would love to know your favorite resource!

Children need opportunities to play with puzzles to help teach the concept of spatial awareness. Spatial awareness refers to a person’s recognition of how he or she, or an object, interacts with a space. It’s being able to fit items into an environment.

Playing with puzzles helps build spatial awareness skills. A child is required to determine which piece goes where and then manipulate the piece to get into the shape.

Ready to help your children build their spatial awareness skills?! Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Roll of paper
• Marker
• Nature- We used stones that we collected from the beach, but you can use whatever you have available to you! Use just one type of nature or a mixture of sticks, stones, moss, seashells, etc.

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*If you love this post, check out 10 Nature Heart Activities for Kids!*

Check out one of our favorite spatial awareness activities:

Make a shape outline. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so I outlined a random wooden heart container that we have in our house.

Put your pieces of nature around the heart. We used our beautiful collection of rocks from Lake Michigan for this activity, but you can use whatever you have available to you!

I worked alongside my boys with this activity. I practiced using vocabulary words like: flip, move, turn, rotate, under, below, above and in between. The boys quickly caught on and started using the same language:)

Leo loved picking up the small pebbles and placing them in between the larger rocks to fill the white spaces. This is great fine motor and hand-eye coordination practice!

There where also many times that the boys had to problems solve because the stone that they picked up didn’t fit in the spot they were aiming for. They quickly found new spots, but this got more difficult as the heart shape filled up with stones.

My first graders was a big fan of picking up larger rocks and making them fit in the “just right” space. He would pick up larger stones and move them around until he found the perfect spot.

As we neared the finish line, the boys make a stone frame around the heart!

I have to say, this activity looks beautiful when complete!

When you are finished, just take the stones off the heart and try again! I love this activity because no two puzzles will ever turn out the same.

Pin this activity to save it for later!

I hope this becomes one of your favorite spatial awareness activities! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Looking for more simple and beautiful nature activities?! Check out:

Nature Constellation Matching Game

How to Preserve Flowers for Nature Activities

The post Work on Spatial Awareness With This Simple Nature Shape Puzzle appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

There are so many advantages to using a sensory writing tray! Children get to use multiple senses while learning and playing which means you can suit any child’s learning style. Children love smelling the pine, moving their fingers in the tray and touching the needles. I promise, they aren’t sharp and my boys didn’t complain about how they feel.

Another reason I love sensory writing trays is because they appeal to children of all ages and are a naturally differentiated activity. Preschoolers can work on prewriting skills and mark making, while older children can work on writing alphabet letters and even spelling words!

Ready to make one? Here’s what you’ll need….

Supplies:

• Pine Needles
• Scissors
• Tray- We repurposed a Melissa and Doug play dough container for this activity
• Optional- Branches, stones, beads clothespins and sensory tray writing prompts

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

RELATED: Check out Fall Leaf Sensory Writing Tray

Here’s What We Did:

We used all of the pine needles from the Pine Needle Sweep activity and had to collect a few more fallen pine branches from our yard because the sensory tray required extra pine needles.

My boys helped me cut and tear the pine needles off the branches for extra fine motor work. I added some red beads to make the tray look a little more festive!

I also included a paintbrush in case my boys didn’t want to use their fingers in the pine needles, but they enjoyed both methods.

My four year old liked making large strokes with the paintbrush. He swept all of the pine needles to one side and then the other of the sensory writing tray.

I wasn’t worried about him making letters because there are so many benefits to just using a paintbrush. When holding on to a paintbrush, children build fine motor skills because it requires them to use a pincher grasp to hold the paintbrush. It also encourages them to move their hand, wrist and arm to create an image.

He also liked filling in the empty spaces with the red beads. They looked like holiday berries in the tray!

My six year old was a little more precise. He enjoyed making letters and filling them in with the red beads.

Leo liked watching his older brother make different letters, so he joined in and helped him fill in the letters with beads.

I taught them how to put the beads back in the jar and then shake the pine needles in the tray to start over for a new letter. They were busy for a long time with this activity!

Pin this activity to save it for later!

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

∼Tara

Looking for more winter activity ideas?! Check out:

A Simple and Adorable Holiday Wreath for Kids

Winter Small World Play Using Natural Materials

The post Pine Needle Sensory Writing Tray appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

This is our fourth nature puzzle and I have so many more in store for you! I will be sharing ways to change them up to keep them fun and interesting.

This snowman activity is inspired by Olaf from Frozen! With all the plastic toys offered in the stores, I thought this was a great low-waste alternative to the cheap plastic toys we are often bombarded with.

Here’s what you’ll need…

Supplies:

• Paper- We use Melissa and Doug easel paper
• 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.
• Marker
• Various loose parts to decorate your snowmen. We used: little white rocks, shaped gems, and sticks. You can use whatever you would like!

This post contains Affiliate links for your convenience.

RELATED: Looking for another themed stone puzzle?! Check out DIY Spider Stone Puzzle

Ready To Set Up Your Snowman Activity? Here’s What We Did:

Step 1:

Lay out a large piece of white paper. You can tape it down with painters tape if you would like to keep it secure in one spot. I placed the stones, stick arms, little white rocks, and gems mixed together in the bowl. You can choose to separate the rocks and loose parts if you would like.

Step 2:

Place the stones on your paper where you want to outline them. Make sure you leave enough room in between the snowmen for their arms.

If you want to leave out the loose parts, you can always draw the eyes on the smallest stone and little circles for buttons on the middle stones. You can get really creative with the snowmen! Choose whichever version you think would work best for the age group you are working with.

Step 3:

Outline the stones and place them back in the bowl.

Again, if you don’t want to add loose parts, you can draw snowman arms now.

Step 4:

Now for the fun! Invite your child to make the stone snowmen first. They will have fun practicing so many essential skills in a playful and hands-on way. When working on puzzles, children are developing their hand-eye coordination, fine motor, problem solving, cognitive skills and so much more!

The first time we tried a rock puzzle, we spent a lot of time using adjectives to describe the stones. It was great to see my boys using some of those vocabulary words this time around without prompting! “Oh momma, this stone goes here because it looks like a perfect circle!”

Then they added the sticks for the arms. If you are working with older kids, you could practice skip counting the arms by 2 and the stones by 3! Check out how Michelle from @7daysofplay on Instagram incorporated math in a similar snowman stone activity!

Now it was time to add the loose part snowman decorations. My boys pretended the little white rocks were snowflakes and the shape gems were eyes and buttons. We took this opportunity to discuss the different shapes of the gems. This snowman activity looks so pretty!

My four year old started manipulating the loose parts and made a smiley face on this middle snowman stone:)

My six year old made melted snowmen stone stacks. “This is Olaf melting in Frozen!” It’s amazing what kids come up with when they are offered open-ended and inviting materials.

Pin it to save it for later!

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:

10+ Simple and Beautiful Stone Activities for Kids

Holiday Candy Cane Stick Bouquet

The post DIY Snowman Stone Puzzle with Loose Parts appeared first on Little Pine Learners.