Note: Make sure you read through this post to find
out how you can win any number of prizes from Clorox Clean-Up—up to $10,000!
Growing up, I remember many times walking around the house
being bored. So, when my kids start
with the "I'm bored", we like to come up with fun and creative things to do. And as a parent, I find that these are some
of the best times I have with my children.
The girls enjoy being together and spending time with me. I, of course, love spending time with them,
too. I also love to encourage them to
expand on their creativity.
We all love nature and being outdoors. My children are constantly picking up sticks,
flowers, berries, fossils, stones, seeds, pinecones, shells and more. These treasures always end up in our house
and the girls love looking at them. We
display much of their findings in a dish, but on days when the girls are
walking around and saying, “I am bored,” I suggest nature crafts. The girls love it because it is something
different every time. I love it because
it gets their little brains thinking and creating, not to mention the beautiful
masterpieces that can be displayed around the house.
We like to do many different creative nature projects that all range
from very easy to extremely easy. I
thought I would share a few of our favorites with my readers. Please remember this one very important word of advice: make sure you know what your kids are picking up is not poisonous and make sure your child does not ingest any of the treasures they find!
Construction Paper Masterpiece: Grab some
construction paper, glue, crayons or markers, and items from
nature. Simply have your child come up
with a creative picture using materials they picked up from nature, drawing
whatever parts they want. They can glue
items from nature in place. They may
take petals from flowers and make their own flower. Or make a log home out of sticks. Encourage them to pull things apart and
explore them more fully.
 |
| Busy working on Fairy Houses |
 |
| Claire's Fairy House Made with leaves and flowers. |
Shoebox Lid
Masterpiece: This is similar to the
Construction Paper Masterpiece, but allows for larger/heavier items to be glued
in place. They may want to create a
creek surrounded by rocks. Or make a
flower out of pinecones seeds. They may just want to arrange them in a pretty way for display.
I love to save the plastic food trays as they are also great for projects like this. My daughters spread glue in the bottom of one, added sand and then glued shells from our beach trip. What a cute way to display their shells!
Plain Old White Paper
Masterpieces: Grab some white
computer paper, a handful of leaves and paint for a fun picture. Have watercolors? Then place a few leaves on the paper and
paint around them, painting outward away from the leaf. This leaves a negative leaf print. Have tempura paints? Then spread some paint in a shallow lid and
let the kids do leaf prints. Grasses,
pine branches and other items make cool prints, too.
 |
| Claire is using a pine branch to create snowflakes. |
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| Camille is using the dried flower pod of a hosta plant to make fireworks. |
Stretched Canvas
Masterpieces: I find small stretched
canvases for just a couple dollars at closeout stores. I like to give these to my children for their
creations. They can paint make leaf
prints, incorporate items from nature into the picture, whatever their little
hearts can think of. Depending upon
what materials they use in the project, we grab the decoupage and get busy!
Nature Sculptures: Let your children grab sticks, bark, nuts, berries and more from nature and glue them together to create a sculpture.
Like the idea of Nature’s Masterpieces? Find more like them at
Recipes for Fun, a new
website from Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner.
Here you can find and share recipes for fun activities to do with your
kids. Whether it is cool science experiments,
creative arts and crafts, or delicious cooking recipes, you are sure to find an
activity for you and your kids to get down and dirty…and then clean it up!
In celebration of “Recipes for Fun” site, Clorox is having
an Ultimate Mess Party Sweepstakes! You
can sign up for a chance to win $10,000 toward an Ultimate Mess Party. Plus, you can enter to win instantly every
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recipe, you will get a $1.00 off Clorox Clean-Up coupon and you will receive 10
extra grand prize entries! But wait,
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Prizes are awarded randomly—so good-luck!
About Clorox Clean Up:
Every Recipe For Fun needs a Recipe For Clean. That’s why Clorox® Clean-Up® Cleaner with the combination of cleaner and the disinfecting power of Clorox Bleach lets you spray away messy play. So no matter how big a mess you make of it, Clorox® Clean-Up® Cleaner Cleaner with Bleach can be used throughout your house to quickly and effectively clean, disinfect, and deodorize.
Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Clorox Clean-Up Recipes for Fun blogging program, for 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on this program, click here and see the Terms link.
