Spring Nature Plates (Easy Kid Craft)

Spring has sprung in central Texas!  We're seeing bluebonnets sprout up all over our area and are enjoying the warmer weather ... biking, playing outside, walking with the puppies, and enjoying some fun nature crafts.  I wanted to share this fun activity we enjoy when the weather is nice outside.  We've taken this to the neighborhood park, on an outdoor hike, and to trips to the lake.

Materials Needed:

thick paper plates (we use Chinet)

white school glue (we use Elmer's)

We tell the kids they are making a "Nature Plate" to show off all of the wonderful parts of nature.  The only rules?  You have to gather and place one item at a time and you can only fill one plate.  Easy, right?

We start by setting out their plates and filling it with white school glue.  Then the kids take off in to the great outdoors to collect the items they want to place on their Nature Plate.

Because they can only choose one item at a time, they tend to use a little more discretion in determining what is 'worth' the trip back to their plate (as opposed to grabbing handfuls of dirt and grass then calling it a day).  It also adds some fun physical activity as they must travel back and forth (usually running and giggling) from outside back into the room with the plates.  As parents, we generally help with more glue when needed and encourage the kids' progress and their plate fills up.

Here, my son places a rock next to a stick and flower on his plate.

My sweet twin nieces add their treasures to their plates.

All of the cousins show off their newly created Nature Plates.

After a good drying time, we punched a hole into the top of the paper plate and added a ribbon to hang their plates in their bedrooms.  They love their souvenir of a very fun time.

Please share your ideas, too!  We're always looking for fun stuff to do!