You came to the right place if you are looking for a fun spring or summer flower activity for kids! These make a wonderful and unique birthday, Easter, or holiday gift for kids! Make a bunch, stack them up and tie them together with twine for a special gift that any child would love.

Even though I made these for my preschool students, my 8 and 10 year old boys and were both instantly drawn to them! I’m so excited to share these with my little ones at school and see their magnetic tile wildflower garden creations.

These tiles are incredibly durable and the pressed flower stickers have a strong adhesive.  This DIY toy is perfect for little hands!

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

Supplies for the DIY Pressed Flower Magnetic Tiles:

• 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! If you have a different brand and would like to use the 2 sets together, please double check to make sure they will work!
• Pressed Flower Stickers– The adhesive on this brand are super strong and great for this activity! I also love the butterflies, mushrooms and leaves in this set . I purchased a set with dragonflies and beetles, but it’s not currently available. Here is the same brand with dragonflies and butterflies.
• Light Pad– This is optional, but a fun accessory for any magnetic tile fan!

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Here’s How I Made the Magnetic Tiles:

These are so easy to make! Just peel the flowers and stick them on the magnetic tiles. I placed 3 flowers on each tile and found that looked best. I trimmed the sticker stems to make the flowers fit on the inside flat part of the tile. They looked beautiful!

I mixed up the colors and flower types to make the magnetic tiles look like a wildflower garden when stuck together! Try identifying the flowers with your child. It’s a fun challenge and great way to learn nature identification. 

They looked so beautiful in the sunlight! This presents a great opportunity to learn about shadows! The flower shadows were gorgeous and fun to look at.

We 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 flower specimens. I’ve had this same light pad in my preschool classroom for years and it has proven to be durable and long lasting!

Children will love stacking the tiles on and around the light pad! 

You can mix these in with the rest of your magnetic tiles or create a challenge for your child! Here is challenge idea: Have your child build a house out of your regular magnetic tiles and then create a wildflower garden for the home out of the DIY flower tiles!

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I hope you enjoy this fun pressed flower activity as much as I do!

-Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

A Simple and Beautiful Nature Craft to Try Today

Flower Petal Art on Rocks

If you are looking for nature identification activities, then try my scavenger hunt ideas! These fun and interactive scavenger hunts will get your child outdoors and excited to learn about nature. 

The post DIY Pressed Flower Magnetic Tiles appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

These tic-tac-toe rocks are so fun to make! You can use special flowers from your yard that you dried yourself or purchase a pack of pressed flowers from Amazon. 

Try making Tic-Tac-Toe rocks for every season by painting simple pictures on the stones. For fall you can make pumpkin and spider stones and for winter try painting snowflakes and simple evergreen tree stones. The possibilities are endless! 

Ready to make a DIY Tic-Tac-Toe game? Here’s what you’ll need….

Supplies:

• 10 Rocks- Make sure your rocks are a little larger than your pressed pieces of nature. 
• You can also find stones in craft stores, landscape shops,  or Amazon.
• White paint
• Paintbrush
• Pressed Pieces of Nature- You will need 2 sets of game pieces with 5 similar types of nature. We made 1 set with 5 pressed flowers and another set with 5 pressed leaves. This set looks nice and this set does too!
• Mod Podge– Play around with gloss and matte finish to see which you like more. 
• Tweezers– These are helpful for small and delicate petals.
• 4 Sticks- Make sure they are large enough to fit your unique pieces of nature. Our sticks are about 12 inches (30.5cm) long.

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

Here’s How We Made This Beautiful Tic-Tac-Toe Game:

Step 1:

Paint your rocks white. Paint one side of the rock and let it dry. Then flip it over and paint the other side of the rock and let it dry.

Step 2:

Put a dab of Mod Podge on the rock and place your pressed piece of nature on the Mod Podge. The Mod Podge does not need to dry before moving on to the next step.

Step 3:

Cover the rock and pressed piece of nature with a coat of Mod Podge. Let the Mod Podge dry.

Step 4:

Repeat this process for all of your rock game pieces and let them dry thoroughly.

Step 5:

Set up you Tic-Tac-Toe grid with the sticks – Lay 2 sticks vertically about 4 inches (10 cm) apart and lay the other 2 sticks horizontally on top of the other sticks about 4 inches (10 cm) apart.

How to Play with the DIY Tic-Tac-Toe Board

1. One person has the flower rocks and the other person has the leaf rocks.
2. Players take turns putting their stones in the empty squares.
3. The first player to get three of 3 of his/her stones in a row (up, down, across, or diagonally) is the winner!

You can make a special bag for your game pieces and play over and over again!

Pin this activity to save it for later!

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

∼Tara

Looking for more nature craft ideas?! Check out:

Preserving Flowers in Resin

Magical Pressed Flower Lanterns

The post DIY Tic-Tac-Toe appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

These DIY binoculars are perfect for your little adventurer! Print off some free nature scavenger hunts and take these outside or bring them on your next casual nature walk. Either way, these are so fun to use and look like a fancy boutique purchase! No one will ever know they were made in about 30 minutes with a few simple supplies. 

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

Supplies:

• Toilet paper roll- You could also cut a paper towel roll in half!
• White acrylic paint– This is more difficult to clean, but coats better than washable paint!
• Paint brush
• Pressed flowers– I have purchased a lot of pressed flowers and the flowers in this shop are by far the most beautiful set I have worked with! If you are looking to press your own flowers, try this simple drying method or give the microwave a whirl.
• Matte Mod Podge
• Single hole punch
• Twine
• Scissors
• Tape

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RELATED: Check out 20+ Pressed Flower Crafts

Here’s How We Made This Heart Craft for Kids:

Step 1:

First tear off any stubborn little pieces of toilet paper that’s stuck to the roll. Then give your toilet paper roll a coat or two of white paint. We used white toilet paper rolls, which helped make this step a bit easier. 

Step 2:

Next, let the paint dry and punch one hole near the end of both toilet paper rolls. 

Step 3:

Now put a layer of Mod Podge on one toilet paper paper roll. This will help the flowers stick to the roll. 

Step 4:

Now put your pressed flowers on the roll and add another layer of Mod Podge on the flowers. This will help protect and seal your flowers!

Step 5:

After the Mode Podge is all dry, take one end of your twine and thread it through the hole you made. Tie a knot to secure the thread to the paper roll. Use the same piece of twine and repeat with the other binocular.

Step 6:

Last, tape the both ends of the DIY binoculars together. 

The binoculars are ready for your next outdoor adventure! Children will love searching for bugs, flowers, and other signs of the changing seasons.

These are a must-have items for bird watching season! You can work on bird identification and observe them flying to and from nests. These will inspire hours of outdoor play and learning.

Pin this activity to save it for later!

I hope you try this DIY binocular craft! I promise, your little nature lovers will love this craft as my boys.

∼Tara

Looking for more nature craft ideas?! Check out:

Nature Collection Journal for Kids

A Simple and Beautiful Nature Craft to Try Today!

The post DIY Binoculars with Pressed Flowers appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

I recently discovered these adorable egg stamps and HAD to share them with you! They make cute egg decorations for a special occasion (like Easter) or for your daily egg use. You can use them on naturally dyed eggs, hardboiled eggs, fresh eggs, or long lasting blown out eggs.

These stamps also offer a cute way to market your eggs if you sell them from your backyard coop! Both children and adults will love using these. 

Please do your own research to decide if you would like to use these on eggs you consume or sell!

Rubber stamps typically have latex in them, so keep latex allergies in mind when using these stamps. 

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

Supplies:

• Egg Stamps- We have this one and this one. There are sooo many cute stamps! If you have a coop, this one and this one is cute. There is also a duck stamp! You can also find personalized egg stamps if you would like to put your family name on your eggs. 
• Food safe ink
• Eggs
• Tags and twine, stickers, and egg cartons if you want take your egg stamp decorating a little further!

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Related: Check out Beautiful Egg Craft

The post Fun Ways to Use Egg Stamps appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

This gorgeous nature crown is inspired from Where the Wild Things Are! We love this book and read it all the time. I love paring activities with books because it creates a deeper connection to the book AND the project. 

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

Supplies for the Nature Crown:

• Clear contact paper
• Scissors
• Pressed pieces of nature. Just grab them from your garden! If you are in the middle of winter and don’t have pieces of nature to press, you can order already pressed flowers and leaves right here

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How to Make the Nature Crown:

Step 1:

First measure your child’s head by wrapping a piece of string around his/her head. Add an inch of string to ensure that you will be able to tape the crown together when finished. Then lay that piece of string on your roll of contact paper to see how big your sheet of contact paper needs to be. 

Step 2:

Lay down your piece of contact paper with the print side up. Create a crown outline or find a template to copy online. For easy tracing, I copied a crown template from the My Wild Finds packet. I adapted the crown a bit and made straight points instead of the little circles that are on the crown. Then I just continued the pattern to make it big enough to fit around by son’s head.

Cut it out after you traced your template. 

Step 3:

Now you will make the other side of the nature crown. This side will seal in the pressed flowers. 

To make this side, flip over the first side of the crown you made and trace it on the contact paper. Notice the cut crown is print side down and the other piece is print side up. This will ensure your unique sides will match together when you seal the flowers. 

Step 4:

Next it’s time to decorate your crown! We used pressed flowers from a book, you can see that method HERE. We also used pressed flowers from the microwave, you can see that method HERE. 

My boys loved helping with this step. Just peel the backing from your contact paper, lay it sticky side up, and start sticking your pressed flowers! 

Step 5: 

Now match up the other side of the nature crown to seal the flowers. This can be a little tricky, but totally doable. Just go slow and start on one side of the crown. I like to match up the lower corner and slowly match the sides. Try to push out air bubbles as you go, but many of them can be pressed out when the crown is complete. Contact paper is pretty easy to peel back if you need to make minor adjustments as you go. I trimmed the sticky pieces that didn’t quite match up when I was finished. 

Use a little tape to connect the sides and you are ready to go!

Now that your nature crown is complete, take it out for a sunset hike! The flowers look so gorgeous with the sun shinning through the crown.

This crown is the perfect outdoor play accessory or make one for your next special occasion, like a birthday party! 

You don’t need the golden glow of sunset to make this nature crown special, it also looks beautiful during the day!

I love this crown because you can save it and use it over and over again. 

We also traced this crown design from from the My Wild Finds packet. I added a little twine to wrap it around my son’s head. Which one do you like more?! It’s hard for me to decide! Here are a few more photos to inspire your crown:) 

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

∼Tara

Need more pressed flower craft ideas?! Check out:

Easy DIY Flower Bookmark

Nature Sun Catchers Made With Recycled Items

The post Stunning Nature Crown 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

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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!

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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’m always trying to think of fun outdoor activities for my kids. My ideas seem to be endless in spring because there are so many beautiful new pieces of nature popping up! Dandelions are one of our favorite spring flowers to craft with and collect. We have thousands of them in our yard and the life cycle is so fascinating to observe. I love that one day our field is dotted with beautiful yellow dandelions and then overnight they turn into magical fluffy puffs. 

My boys love to pick them for wishes so I thought it would be fun to make up a story about a lady named Misses Wishes. Learn about her below!

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

Supplies:

• Cardboard
• Marker
• Dandelions
• Sharp pencil to poke holes of the dandelions

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RELATED: Check out Dandelion Shape Board

Here’s How I Made the Boards:

Step 1:

Create your wishing board. I drew a simple face and poked holes with a pencil on her hairline. Make sure you poke the pencil all the way through to make wide holes!  

You can make any hair design that you would like! She can have long flowing locks or a short hairdo. 

Step 2:

I introduce Misses Wishes with this little poem: “Meet Misses Wishes. She is a lady that visits us every spring to hear our dandelion wishes. She loves dandelion puffs just as much as you, so give her a dandy puff hairdo and she will help make your wishes come true.”

My four year old loved collecting the dandelion puffs and threading them in the holes! He made a few wishes along the way, but didn’t make one for each dandelion. He said, ” I don’t have that many wishes.” 

Threading the dandelion stems through the holes is great fine motor work! My son also learned he had to be patient and gentle when threading the dandelions so the seeds wouldn’t fly all over the place. 

He was so excited when it was time to blow the seeds from Misses Wishes fancy hairdo! My son squealed with joy as the seeds went flying and dancing above his head!

I have to say, the before and after hairdos are equally fabulous! My son wanted to display the board in his room and looks adorable! It’s a sweet reminder of our time spent together and the wishes he made that beautiful spring evening. Give it a try today and make some springtime memories with your kids!

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

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

Dandelion Rock Family

Double-Sided Nature Crown Board

The post A Cute Dandelion Wish Activity for Kids appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

This is one of those activities that you can 100% tailor to meet the needs and the interests of the children you are working with. If you have multiple children at home, you could have one child searching for alphabet letters and the other searching for sight words. If your children need help with math skills, you could write numbers or draw dots on the stones for counting. This is a naturally differentiated activity that helps children learn in a fun and active way. 

Ready to give this garden activity for kids a try!? Here’s what you’ll need..

Supplies:

• Stones
• Chalk
• Watering Can

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

Here’s How We Did This Garden Activity for Kids:

Step 1:

This is basically the only step! Just write letters on stones with chalk and hide them in your garden! Remember you can do this exact same activity with numbers, words, shapes, or anything else you are currently working on. 

A few of the stones that I wrote on were larger stones and already set in the garden. Once I hid the rest of the smaller stones, we were ready for the alphabet letter scavenger hunt! I tried to have a nice mix of easy to find stones and a few that were a bit more tricky to find. 

My four year old was completely sold when he found out there was a watering can involved. He loves watering plants in our yard, so this was pretty exciting for him!

This garden activity for kids is also great for gross motor skills. As you can see in the photo below, he is working on balance, coordination, physical strength and so much more!

My son loved searching for the letters and would shout out the letter names as he found them. I challenged him on a few and asked if he knew the letters sounds.

I plan on trying this with my older son next with sight words he’s been working on. This is so much better than a boring worksheet!

When he finished the activity, he grabbed the chalk and wrote some letters on a few rocks because he wanted to keep going! This one kept him busy for long time, was inexpensive, and got him outdoors! We’ll definitely revisit this garden activity a few more times this summer:) 

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

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

Four Ways to Use Stones in the Classroom

Dandelion Rock Family

The post Alphabet Stone Activity for the Garden appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

You can make the hiking stick in your own backyard or on the trail, while you are hiking. I suggest picking dandelions only if you see an abundance of them to ensure there are enough left for the bees! Dandelions are the bees’ first food so it’s important to leave a bunch for them. We don’t spray our yard, so we have hundreds of them pop up during spring. We like to make these hiking sticks in our yard and then take them around the neighborhood for our evening walks. 

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

Supplies:

• Dandelions
• Hiking Stick
• Double-sided tape

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RELATED: Check out 100 Low-Prep Activities You Can Try in Your Own Backyard

Here’s How We Made Them:

Step 1:

Head outside and search for a hiking stick. We tried this activity on several hiking sticks, and found the double-sided tape stuck best on smooth hiking sticks. We had one hiking stick with a lot of lichen on it and it still worked but it took a bit more effort to get the tape to stick. All of our hiking sticks were very dry, which I think helped the tape stick as well. 

We took about 3, 10 inch strips of the double-sided tape and wrapped them around each hiking stick in a spiral design, then pressed the tape pretty hard to help it stick. 

Step 2:

Now stick the dandelions to the hiking stick! I suggest picking dandelions after a couple of dry days so they aren’t wet. This will obviously help them stick better to the tape. 

We popped the dandelion heads off and put them right on the tape. We had a couple of fussy dandelions that didn’t want to stick, but overall they stuck to the tape nicely. 

They also make a cute decoration for the yard! The dandelions will look great for about 6-7 hours and then start to dry and wilt a bit. 

You might loose a couple of dandelions if you drop the hiking stick, but you can just stick them back on. I was going to try a hot glue gun, but I think the tape makes this more child friendly and you can take the dandelions and tape off when you are finished and try making a different hiking stick!

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

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

Get Kids Outside With These 10 DIY Hiking Sticks

How to Make Nature Pinch Pots

The post Spiral Dandelion Hiking Stick appeared first on Little Pine Learners.

Spring is finally here and along with the sunshine, my kids are bringing me fistfuls of dandelions. Throughout spring we literally have hundreds of dandelions pop up on our lawn, so there are plenty left for the bees after we try a few dandelion crafts. This one was so much fun and soooo simple! Even the littlest nature kids can give this one a try!

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

Supplies:

• Dandelions
• Rocks
• Sharpie Marker
• Double-sided tape

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RELATED: Check out How to Make a Simple Dandelion Frame

Here’s How We Made Them:

Step 1:

Grab some rocks. We flipped over the rocks we used for our Leaf Monster Rocks  and I drew new faces to match the new dandelion activity. We can flip them back over and use them again in the fall!

Line your rock with double-sided tape. I put the tape on different areas of the rocks for the different family members. Since we are using double-sided tape, one side will stick to the rock and the other side is for the dandelions. 

Step 2:

Draw the facial features on your rocks. Don’t stress out over this, just keep it simple! Feel free to copy my easy designs or let your children draw the faces!

Step 3:

Now head outside to collect dandelion heads to press on the tape. It’s best to collect your dandelions on a dry day and you might need to press them for a second or two to make them stick. 

They look so cute when finished and you can make up your own story about your dandelion family. We infused interesting dandelion facts into our story. Meet our dandelion family:

Momma rock loves her new purple earnings, papa rock’s beard is filling in nicely, baby rock needs a quarantine haircut, and dandy-lion in looking cute as ever! They live happily among the dandelions and love playing in the sunshine! They welcome the bees on their fancy hairdos and their flowers open in the morning to greet the sun and close at night when the go to sleep. 

The pet dandy-lion likes to explore the yard by himself, but he always returns to his family when the sun goes down. 

Our dandelion family doesn’t mind if we bring them inside to play with them for a bit, but we make sure to bring them outside at the end of the day. 

When the dandelions dry out, you can always take the flowers off the tape, add some fresh tape, and make more!

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 it as much as my boys.

∼Tara

Need more simple nature ideas?! Check out:

A Simple and Beautiful Nature Craft to Try Today

10+ Simple and Beautiful Stone Activities for Kids

The post Dandelion Rock Family appeared first on Little Pine Learners.