Here's What We Do With Our Nature Walk Findings {Kids' Craft}

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Little Guy is a collector. Whenever we go anywhere, I have to bring along a small tote bag for his treasures. You know, pebbles, the perfect stick, a flower petal... nature stuff. When we get home, I usually mention that we'll have to leave the bag on the porch. Then, after bed time, I head out to go through his stuff. I usually keep the rocks. We're ever-so-slowly creating a little path alongside our garden out of cool looking rocks we found. The sticks, leaves, etc. usually go over the fence and into the woods behind our home. That is, until I saw something in an email.

I keep up-to-date on blogs through email subscriptions. I find it so much easier to know what's going on by reading a day's worth of posts in one place. I can read each email and flag the ones I want to comment on later. Well, on one of the days that I was feeling less-than-great, I remember seeing a picture of a craft that someone had done with their kids. It was really cool - a dragonfly made out of a stick and a couple of leaves glued to a piece of construction paper. I must have deleted the email, but that little dragonfly stuck with me (I LOVE dragonflies!)

It turns out that Crystal of Surviving a Teacher's Salary is the one who posted a photo of the finished project. You can see it HERE - I don't want to use her photo without permission, it's 1:30 in the morning so she's probably not around to give it, and I want to get this scheduled to post in the morning (when I'll be sleeping in (yeah, right!)

So, here's what we made:

And, here's how we did it:

1. Since these objects are rather heavy, I handed Little Guy the glue stick and let him loose on a piece of cardboard, to which we eventually glued the yellow paper. Meanwhile, I cut a thin piece of cardboard (cereal box) into the branch shape. 
2. While he was busy coating the "branch" with glue, I quickly cut some green paper (left over from homemade Christmas cards) into leaf shapes.
3. Then, he used markers to draw flowers on the branch.
4. Next, we glued the leaves on (this time with white glue because he wanted a change from the boring, old glue stick!) I helped him with this part because he's a born glue-eater and will purposely have an "accident" just so he can swipe some up on his finger and pop it into his mouth before I know what's happening.
5. Finally, we glued on our dragonfly. Before getting out the glue again, we set the pieces on the background and moved them around until he was satisfied with the look of it. 

That's it! One tip: Make sure to use enough glue when you put the heavier stuff on. It'll take a while to dry, but everything will stay intact!

I'm adding a linky here because I'd love to see what you can come up with. There are a million possibilities for this craft. Make a house, a butterfly, a race car, an abstract work of art! So, If you go on walks and return home hauling half the sticks and leaves on the neighborhood home, please make some pretty pictures with them! We've also created some flower pictures out of pine cones and leaves to give to grandmas on Mother's Day. Please share anything you make - I love seeing all of the creativity out there and getting new ideas!

BTW  -  If you get a chance, go check it out Surviving a Teacher's Salary - it is pretty cool. Did you know she's got a weekly "Educational Giveaways Around the Blogosphere" post where you'll find some pretty cool toys, games, and books for your kiddos.