Summer Treasures Repurposed: Flower Blossoms

Use the flowers you have pressed from your summer garden to set up a nature museum in your classroom, practicing labels and classifications.

Add pressed blossoms to sun prints or stationary, like this example from Playful Learning.

Set up a flower dissection experiment using the lesson plan from the Arizona Science Standards or the suggestions from Mariah.

Grandparents.com suggests making bookmarks out of dried flowers. 

Decorate the holiday tree by cutting apart large blossoms to add to the branches or by filling glass bulbs with your favorite dried blossoms.

Pick a favorite dried flower to display on a canvas

Fasten large blossoms to a wreath base to create a seasonal wreath.

Bundle and hang  leftover garden beauty to decorate your home or classroom.  Making a dried flower bouquet is an appropriate activity to use when teaching about the colonial time in history.

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Summer Treasures Repurposed: Stones

As I mentioned before, our family loves to collect treasures from nature all summer long.  This time of year this momma is anxious to make use of these treasures or make them disappear.  Here are some examples of things we found to do using the kids' colorful stone and pebble collections:

Choose 52 of the stones to use in starting a family traditions.  At the end of each week discuss your favorite moments of the week as a family.  Write a key word or two on the stone to sum up the conversation.  Add the week's stone to a mason jar that you display in your home - "standing stone" collection of all the everyday memories of the year. 

One Pretty Thing put together a sweet heart of beach glass, but it could also be done with stones.

Create pet rocks.  Use the pet rocks as characters in your own creative stories.

Sort the stones by size or color.  Create graphs using the stones as place markers.

Replace the store bought unnaturally neon colored pebbles with lovely fresh water stones.

Using tile grout, a bowling ball, and a beautiful stone collection create a garden art gazing globe.

Cover a wooden bird house with a thin layer of cement decorated gingerbread style with favorite stones.

Paint a pile of stones to use as math manipulatives throughout the school year.

{Frog Math with painted pebbles}

Doodle on your plain stones with a Sharpie marker, like The Art of Being Creative, to make a simple reminder of beach days past.

Put together a holiday gift of Message Stones, like these from MomReady.

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Summer Treasures Repurposed: Driftwood

All summer long we collect treasures - bits and pieces of beauty, nature, memories - all of supreme value in the eye of the collector.  Throughout June, July and August I gladly display the flowers, stones, shells, sticks, and grasses in vases, on trays, and piled on shelves.  By mid September I am more than ready to put them away to make room for apples, pumpkins, and cinnamon sticks.  Yet, it seems these treasures deserve more than just a ride back outside to the compost pile.  Instead, we use these pieces as art materials to create new beauty.

Here are some examples of things we found to create using our driftwood collection:

{Beach Wreath}

{Painted Inspiration Sign}

Scribd has an Art Creation Lesson Plan right up for creating with driftwood.
Driftwood Art Lesson

Wise Craft used driftwood to create a mobile.

Driftwood can be arranged into sculptures and onto canvases in letters,  shapes, abstract designs.

Completely Coastal put together a lovely heart of driftwood.

If you have a preteen reader in your home, perhaps you may like to check out the book Driftwood by Cathy Cassidy.  It's a story of a rescued friendship.

Have you and your children made any driftwood creations?

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Fathers Day Gifts from Children

 A Mama's Two Cents offered a colorful printable for the Super Dad in your life.

2 Love Learning put a different spin on the shirt and tie card.

Inner Child Fun came up with some crafts for the kids to make for dad.  The brag book made out of cast off technology is especially clever.

Junk in Their Trunk has printables and freebies for making Dad smile.

Don't miss the paper "iDad" from Charlotte's Fancy.

There are several cute suggestions for Father's Day on Simple Kids.  I especially like the "D is for Dad Day" menu.

Her Gardening Blog lists several ideas of gifts kids can make such as a BBQ Kit or a Money Tree.

Brandi has devoted an entire blog to DIY Father's Day craft ideas.

Life of a Modern Mom shares the step by step instructions for creating a folded dress shirt card.

Momania lists their ideas for the Top 10 Inexpensive Father's Day gifts/experiences.

Have fun putting together something special for the Fabulous Fathers in your lives!

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Make Your Own Summer Fun: Textures & Paint

The more relaxed  pace in the summer is perfect for experimenting with activities most likely to get pushed to the back burner during the busy school year schedule.  Get ready to get a bit messy with these do it yourself recipes for fun!

I Can Teach My Child created their own finger paint that is squeezable. Fun!

These Homemade Watercolors are ready to be used for your beautiful summer paintings.

Remember the yum that was lick and stick stickers?  The always clever Jenae explains how to make your own tasty stickers.

Summer festivals are perfect for facepainting.  Here is a recipe for making your own face paint!

Hands On: As We Grow shares a recipe for fizzy, spray on sidewalk paint.

Sippy Cup Central used recycled material and sunshine to make homemade paper.

My Delicious Ambiguity put together lovely squares of textures great for sensory play.

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Independence Day Crafts

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Yellow Mums put together some patriotic cupcake toppers for 4th of July fun.

Junk in Their Trunk compiled a great list of July 4th craft ideas and a USA printable in different color schemes.

Life of a Modern Mom used a tin can to make a patriotic windsock.

Silly Eagle Books suggests recycling bottle caps to make miniature red, white, and blue cap cakes.

Casa Camacho added red, white, and blue glitter to the playdough for some patriotic shapes.

Roots and Wings used Shrinky Dinks to make All American licence plates to decorate children's bicycles.

The Amazing Mess froze up a layered red, white, and blue popsicle for a holiday cool off.

This plastic baggie flag decoration idea is also thanks to The Amazing Mess.

Handprint and Footprint Art turned little fingers into colorful flags.

Polwig painted up some patriotic plates.

Me and Marie reminds us that painting with star shaped cookie cutters is simple and fun.

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Spring & Easter Crafts

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Classified:Mom celebrates spring with a baby chick craft.

Krafty Kat caught my attention with this adorable egg carton Easter craft tutorial.

Auntie LoLo Crafts put a button collection to good use with this Easter Button Egg

Craftberry Bush made a lovely little spring bird cage.

Sweet and Lovely Crafts created a twist on a traditionally winter themed craft with their Spring Globes.

A List Maker's Life recycled formula cans into Easter Bunny Banks & Baskets and shares the step by steps.

Sippy Cup Central used little hand prints to make Easter lilies.

Mama to 3 Blessings got her little ones busy with paint creating Easter crosses and footprint chicks.

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Winter White Writing Activities & Crafts

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Are you still studying snow or, like me, are you SO over Winter already?!?! Well, these great learning and creating activities might inspire you to give the chill another chance before kicking off all things Spring!

K is for Kindergarten used the fictional book Snowmen at Night to introduce a fun writing project.

A Place Called Kindergarten used the non fiction book The Story of Snow to kick off an informational gathering/research activity and a neat follow up craft.

Ten Kids and a Dog used their handprints and some white paint to make adorable winter scenes.

Off 2 Kindergarten used the ficitional book The Snow Globe Family to inspire creative writing with her students.

Our Crafts~N~Things focused on the natural science part of winter by experiencing animals and their habitats.

While several of these links are from kindergarten teachers I believe the activities can be adapted appropriately for most preschool and elementary age students.

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Valentine Themed Math & Craft Activities

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The Bissell Kids have put together many great Valentine projects that you will find labeled in their content list. However, these cute handmade cards were a perfect crafty heart feature.

Our Crafts~N~Things has a fun collection of Valentine's day activities~n~things!

Primary Perspective has created a Valentine Addition Bingo board to share.

The V is for Valentine lesson from Confessions of a Homeschooler includes a fun Roll a Valentine game, a heart size sorting activity, and a Valentine math match up.

Live, Learn, Love put together a Valentine shape owl craft.

Nurture Store got creative with carrot heart stamps.

United Teaching has a stunning symmetry sample with these sweet heart flakes.

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