Nature Walk = Leaf Crafts Galore!

Sharing Saturday is still open! Please stop by to share your child-oriented crafts and activities and to see this week's features or just to be inspired by all the amazing ideas already shared!!

The other day Hazel and I went on a short nature walk with the intention of collecting some autumn leaves for crafts. Since it has been raining so much, we observed many mushrooms. We have been trying to decide which ones would make the best fairy houses. What do you think? We also noticed these green seed pods on our neighbors trumpet bush. We thought they looked like green bananas and found them rather interesting.

While picking up leaves, Hazel noticed that the oak leaves have a soft and fuzzy back whereas the maple and a few others do not. I noticed that the oak leaves were mostly brown or green. Now only one neighbor has an oak tree and almost every neighbor has a maple so our choices for oak are limited. 

I recently read on Gingerbread Snowflakes that you can preserve the colors of leaves with Mod Podge. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Mod Podge? So that night while Hazel slept, I painted each one with Mod Podge and left them to dry overnight. The result is slightly shiny leaves (even though I used a matte finish) that still have all their beauty. Hazel was better this year at picking up prettier and not so dry leaves though a few dry ones made their way in our bag.

Today we had fun making some crafts. When we were picking up all the red, yellow and orange (though not too many orange ones around) leaves we thought how they reminded us of a fire, so we decided to make a leaf fire picture. I cut Hazel some brown strips and gave her some glue and a piece of black paper and she made a beautiful leaf fire.  She also used glue and made a leaf man who has berries for eyes and an acorn--not sure what it is for. Though I guess accurately it is a leaf woman since she was describing some parts of it as she made it. I also cut a paper plate in a spiral and had her glue on some leaves so we can hang it like a mobile and let it spin to look like falling leaves. She used a lot of glue so it will take awhile to dry. 

Our final craft was a wreath. I used a straw wreath I bought ages ago and wrapped it with some ribbon I got a the dollar store. Then I stuck some of the leaves in the ribbon and I topped it with Hazel's craft from Lakeshore Learning the other week. It is an Indian corn welcome sign. They had the corn, husks and signs cut and she glued on pieces of tissue paper to be the kernels and then we decorated the welcome part. It is now on our door. Above is a close up of it.

I will save the rest of our crafts from today for another day. What nature crafts have you been up to? I know I'm finally getting in the fall mood here! And if you want more leaf craft ideas check out these posts (mostly from last autumn)!

Fall Crafts Capturing the Beauty of Autumn Leaves

 

Last week I shared some autumn crafts including leaf embroidery. I promised another fall craft if it worked and it mostly did. So today I am sharing how to make a leaf bowl. Now I saw photographs all over the place like this one for inspiration. I went outside and picked some beautiful fall leaves. Then I wiped them and let them dry for a few hours. I gathered a plastic cup, a balloon, a paintbrush, and my ModPodge. When I was ready I blew up the balloon and put it in the plastic cup. The cup works as a stand so you do not have to hold the balloon in place. Put the knotted side down into the cup. Then I spread some ModPodge on my first leaf and stuck it on to the balloon. I then spread more ModPodge on the other side of the leaf to get it really stuck. I continued doing this trying to overlap the leaves.

More Autumn Decorations and Apples, Apples, Apples

Autumn Hand Wreath

Today Hazel and I focused on apples and did some painting crafts. Now apples are one of Hazel's favorite foods. She has one at least once a day. My mother-in-law now keeps apples at her house for Hazel, and she never has fruit in her house. So today we started by reading the story, The Little Red House With No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside. And of course we cut the apple sideways to see the star inside. We then pulled out white paper and red paint and did some apple prints. While we had the paint out we also did some mushroom prints with mushroom tops from our yard, leaf prints, acorn prints, etc. and used an apple cookie cutter.

Little Tree -- Book Review -- Penguin Kids' 12 Days of Picture Books Giveaway

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

 Today for Penguin Kids 12 Days of Picture Books prize is Little Tree by Loren Long. This book has so many lessons and discussion topics in it. I love it!!

This book is about growing up and learning to let go of what you know and what is safe. A little tree is happy as it is young and surrounded by other trees the same size. It is happy to have the animals playing in it and the turtledove singing in it. Then the seasons change. The leaves change and all the surrounding trees let their leaves go, but not Little Tree. Little Tree holds onto the safety of its leaves. In spring as the other trees are growing new leaves (and a bit in height) Little Tree has the same brown leaves. The animals keep telling it to drop its leaves, but it won't. Years go by and soon Little Tree cannot feel the sun since all the surrounding trees have grown tall. It is still holding onto its first leaves and is so afraid to let them go. But finally it does and Little Tree finally gets to grow up!

Source

Now I love reading this book to Hazel who is always so full of anxiety and nervousness. She is often afraid to be by herself. This book has opened the conversations about how sometimes we have to do the things we are afraid of and let it go. Sometimes we may have to go into a room by ourselves or try something new and it will be all right. The words to the story are simple and the illustrations are beautiful. This is a book we will be keeping on our bookshelves and reading often!!

Be sure to check out the 12 Days of Picture Books Giveaway!! Four copies of Little Tree are being given away!! Also be sure to check out the Penguin Young Readers Holiday Gift Guide for more great book suggestions!

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

We found a fun book for the autumn: We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger. It is a fun take off of We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Now Hazel got scared of We're Going on a Bear Hunt so we have not made it all the way through the story yet. However she enjoyed this version. It lends itself for a perfect scavenger hunt activity. I put together different sheets to vary it depending on age and on what you want to focus: colors, sizes, types of trees, types of seeds. If you have a group you can also make it a competition to see who gets the largest, etc. I made a sheet for that as well. 

 




For younger children you can look for colored leaves. Then of course they can also just collect leaves and sort them by color, shape, and/or size.

We went on a leaf hunt today and had a wonderful time. Hazel asked if we could go on one every day. We had a large wind storm with some rain the other day,so many of the leaves are down. Hazel loved walking through the crunchy leaves on the side of the road.

We decided to look for the colors. Here is Hazel holding up the orange leaf we found. And, yes, she had me hold it up so she could take a picture of me as well on her camera.

Then in typical Hazel style after picking up many leaves, she discovered mushrooms.

Then of course she wanted to take pictures since I was.

We also found many acorns and acorn tops as well as a few sticks. On the way home, Hazel decided to ride in the wagon.

When we got home we looked at all of our treasures.

We have needed to make two cards, a birthday card for her teacher and a thank you note for someone at church who bought her a beautiful dress. We decided to use our treasures to make the cards. Hazel stamped a piece of white construction paper with "Happy Birthday" and another with "Thank you." Then on the front we glued (or at least attempted, I may need to use some hot glue) sticks on as the trunks and Hazel Mod Podged the leaves on back side and stuck it onto the paper and then put a layer of Mod Podge on the front. The Mod Podge glue will help keep the leaves from losing their colors.

I let her do the gluing so they are still drying.

Our other plan is to needle felt some acorns and make necklaces or just acorns for her friends and teachers at school. And here is a picture of my favorite tree right now (the photo really doesn't do it justice):

OH and a quick update on our painted acorns. We pulled out the nail polish I bought for Hazel this summer and I let her paint with that. She had a blast and they came out really well.

Fabulous Paper Flowers for Valentines, Home Decor, Spring Celebrations, and More!

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Last spring, I used a book by Emiko Yamamoto to create paper wildflowers which I used on spring cards. Today I get to share her next book that also gives tutorials and templates to make beautiful paper flowers. The book is Fabulous Paper Flowers by Emiko Yamamoto.

Fun Facts about Dandelions with Craft & Recipe Round-Up

 

This week is National Wildflower Week! The other day I shared a post on Facebook about dandelions. A friend had posted it and I assumed it was true but wanted to know for sure. I decided to investigate the common wildflower, dandelions, and wow, what an interesting plant. First, did you know dandelions are in the same family as the sunflower and aster? Whether you see wishes, food or weeds, there is something here for you including where they came from, how to harvest them and how to rid your yard of them if you really want to (fun fact 11).

Interesting Facts & Benefits of Clover with Craft & Recipe Round-Up

 

Last week we had so much fun learning about dandelions. It is amazing that what many consider a weed can do for your yard as well as food! This week I thought I would look at another wildflower or weed. We will look at clovers! I found many interesting things about clovers. Now many people associate clover with St. Patrick's Day. However for me it is a spring/summer thing because we have so much in our yard and the rabbits come out to eat it.

The Sound of Falling Leaves -- a Mommy Time Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have to admit I do not read that many adult books these days. I am always reading my review pile and lately they seem to be middle grade or young adult books. But I jumped at the opportunity to review this new novel by Lisa Carter. I love mysteries and it is one. I love some romance--it's in there. And I love God and yes religion plays a part as well. This book is right up my alley. It is The Sound of Falling Leaves. I have to say it has been hard to wait for this week and Friday to share this book with you. I loved it that much! This week is the Blog Tour for the book so I had to wait.

Lent and The Big Wide Mouthed Frog

Our Lenten Table

Close up of our Lenten Tree

So Lent started last Wednesday. I was away and didn't really do much for it (except stop eating candy) until yesterday. Last night my church held a Simple Soup Supper for Lent. It consisted of soup, rolls, drinks and desserts (potluck style on the desserts) and crafts. We went, but I brought a hot dog and mixed vegetables and blueberries for Hazel since she doesn't do too well with soup yet. One of the crafts was a Lenten Tree. It was a cardboard tree trunk and branches and you added leaves. The directions said you should cut out 40 leaves and write things to do to celebrate lent (like do something nice for someone else) and then put all the leaves in a jar and have one person pick one each day and then try to do that thing during the day. This is a bit beyond Hazel's comprehension so we cut out 40 leaves and colored on six of them (for the six days that have already gone by) and I wrote words like Jesus, God, Love on them. Then we glued those six on. Now we will do one each day until Easter when we can decorate our tree with yellow or gold ribbon. I put our tree (and extra leaves) on a table in the living room that we covered with Hazel's purple play silk (it has red undertones which came out in the picture) along with a cross I received when I was young, and a purple candle. This will be our Lenten table. We will add more to it as the season goes on. And I will let you know some of the different Lenten activities we do.

Just a reminder that Sharing Saturday is still going on. Feel free to share a kid-friendly activity or craft with us and go check out all the amazing ones already shared! I also bit the bullet and started a Facebook page, so please come like me over there. And finally, please vote daily for me in the Circles of Moms Top 25 Creative Blogs. (I'm so honored to have been nominated!!) Thank you for all your help!!

A few weeks ago, Lorie over at Reading Confetti posted a great craft to go along with the book The Big Wide Mouthed Frog by Ana Martin Larranaga. I looked for the book at the library and we loved it. Instead of doing her craft, we decided to make all the animals.  I did some searching on-line for help. I found several at DLTK-Kids. I needed a wide mouthed frog, kangaroo, koala bear, possum, emu, and crocodile.

Our collection minus the crocodile

The wide mouthed frog is the main character of the book. He goes out into the world one day to explore and asks every animal he meets what they are and what they eat. Then he tells them he is a big wide mouthed frog and that he eats flies. He does this until he meets the crocodile who eats big wide mouthed frogs. So needless to say he was the most important animal to make. I found a great paper plate frog puppet template at DLTK-Kids. I followed it mostly except I used white pom poms and googly eyes for the eyes instead of the print outs.

The frog first meets a kangaroo. The kangaroo we made from a TP roll and followed the directions at DLTK-Kids. Next he meets a koala. The koala bear also is from TP roll and we used the color template and directions at DLTK-Kids as well.

Our Kangaroo and Koala

The third animal he meets is a possum (hanging upside down). The possum I had more difficulties finding. I found an interesting looking one at Danielle's Place but since I'm not a member I couldn't get the actual template and instructions, so I went from the picture and made a few changes. I used two pipe cleaners for the tail and used a TP roll to give the body some weight and steadiness. Then I cut the body from grey scrapbook paper and made a cone for the head from a grey beige paper. I added a small black pom pom for the nose and some paper ears and googly eyes. Overall, I'm happy with it.

Our Possum

The next animal he meets is an emu. I did a google search and found a paper plate one at MSSS Crafts. Changing a few things to go with the story and based on what we had available we came up with a pretty good one. We did glue feathers onto it instead of a paper bag. I also made sure his feet had three long toes since the frog calls him three long toes.

Our Emu

The final animal the frog meets is a crocodile. I didn't really like my options on this one that I found. DLTK-Kids had some TP roll templates but they were green and since the frog calls the crocodile a knobby brown log I felt it needed to be brown. Since Hazel is not great at coloring in lines, etc. I figured that might be too hard. I also wanted it to be bigger than the frog since it eats frogs. So, I painted a paper plate brown for the mouth. I stuffed a brown paper lunch bag with paper and plastic bags and glued it the open end around a paper towel roll for the tail. I then glued on the bumps from a cardboard egg carton to make it knobby and added some googly eyes. I also tried to shape the paper towel roll to be a bit pointed at the end. Ok, I probably should have given her some legs and feet, but this was good enough for us.

Our Crocodile

So now when we read the story we have all the characters to act it out with. What do you think? Hazel loves them.

Happy Monday!!

Autumn Crafts - Leaf Embroidery & Autumn Fairy

 

I haven't been crafting much lately. Every once in awhile I work on a diamond painting, but otherwise life has been busy. Awhile ago I saw beautiful embroidered leaves on a Facebook ad similar to these.  I thought that was so neat and wanted to try it. I went out and gathered leaves, wiped them and left them to dry, but didn't get around to them until they were really dry. However I decided to try them out. I did some research and found a few places that give directions including one for kids. 

Leaves--Crafts & a Story

Today we worked on changing Hazel's seasonal tree to be autumn. We started to hang our salt dough ornaments and I made her a leaf garland. All I did was use thread and a needle to sew some fabric leaves that I bought at the dollar store. Very easy to do and it added much to her tree. It could also be used to decorate a mailbox, mantle, or staircase.

I used those same leaves on a candle I bought at Rite Aid. I took the sticker off and used Mod Podge to stick them on and seal them on. I actually tried with some pressed leaves that I had, but I think they had gotten too dry and pressed because they would not stick well. I love what the leaves add to the candle. Did I mention the fall candles are 50% off this week?

Finally here is another story about Sister Autumn and her leaf fairies. Click on the picture to get the pdf of it.

Happy Autumn!! Enjoy!!

Pumpkins, Leaves, and Halloween

Today has been one of those days. I knew Hazel would crash and it was just a matter of when. She woke up at 3 a.m. and would not go back to sleep for anything no matter what we tried. It threw us all off for the day. Sure enough I finally convince her to get dressed and go run errands around noon and she falls asleep about five minutes away from home. Needless to say the errands did not get done. So far she has been sleeping for two and a half hours and I slept for about an hour as well. But before she slept we did some crafts.

First we finished up a craft we had started the other day. Hazel wanted to do a craft when I was leaving so I suggested to Steve to paint coffee filters with her watercolor paints. Then we cut them into leaves. I saw the idea at Frugal Family Fun Blog.Then taking the idea from 1+1+1=1, we glued them onto a spiral to look like falling leaves. We also hung some of the leaves on the window to look like stained glass leaves. I love how the light shines through them.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures-Vasilissa and Baba Yaga

Today we will look at a Russian version of Cinderella. I found two picture books with basically the same story and we will look at both today, but first a bit about Russia. Somehow after a week of a deep freeze in New England, Russia seems like the right country to talk about. (I literally heard a radio host mention a town in Russia for having the record for lowest temperatures. She kept checking them because it made our temperatures seem so much better.)

The Leaf and The Tree -- We Are All Connected

 

Disclosure: I am working with The Children's Book Review and Bruce Nemovitz and will receive a small stipend for this post. I was sent a digital copy of the book in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

We are in the middle of winter here in Massachusetts. The trees are bare, but I am dreaming of spring and warmer weather. Today's book is perfect for this dream. It is The Leaf and the Tree by Bruce Nemovitz and illustrated by Ani Ghosh. 

New Board Books for the Fall

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Fall is such a fun time of the year. I love the colors of the leaves and the crunch when you walk on them. Thanksgiving is approaching quickly. Today I get to share a round-up of board books including ones that are fall and Thanksgiving themed.  We will start with the very fall themed one. It is Jump in the Leaf Pile by Kelly Green and illustrated by Kasia Nowowiejska. It has surprise slide out leaf piles. It is recommended for ages 3 and up.

Pumpkins Day 1: Crafts, Baking and More!

We have had pumpkin on the brain. Did you know pumpkins are a member of the vine crop family called cucurbits? How about the name pumpkin comes from the Greek word "pepon" meaning large melon? Or pumpkins are 90% water and their flowers are edible? Or pumpkins originated in Central America? Or in 1883 the US Supreme Court officially determined a tomato and a pumpkin are vegetables. Botanically speaking they are fruit because they have seeds. (Source: Pumpkin Fact Sheet from Topsfield Fair)

We baked the other two pumpkins after using the smallest one in our Harvest Soup for Michaelmas. Then we needed to find time to do some baking. Finally this weekend, we found some time. We started with pumpkin muffins. We started with this recipe from All Recipes. I cut the recipe in half since I did not want to make 36 muffins and made a few changes.

We did not have any raisins so we skipped those. We used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 3/4 cup of oatmeal. We were low on sugar, so we used 2 cups of brown sugar very lightly packed. We used a teaspoon of all the powders that called for 1 1/2 and used 15 ounces of pumpkin puree from our pumpkins. Otherwise we followed the recipe by cutting in half. They came out delicious!

We also made some pumpkin crafts. Today I will share the ones we made out of ribbon and paper. We tried the paper ones last year and as I was looking at the ribbons this year, I thought how fun would those be, so I tried them. 

You start with four equal in length piece of ribbon (I found the wired ones work best), two brass brads, some brown and green construction paper and some glue. To start find the approximate center of one ribbon and stick a brad through it and then add the other three ribbons in similar fashion and close the brad. Then bend the ribbons up and taking the outside ribbon first stick each end into the second brad until all the ribbon edges are secured. Close the brad and turn your pumpkin over. Now you can add your stem, leaves and tendrils. See below for that tutorial. For an easier version for kids, the paper works since you can punch the holes where the brads go (three holes in each strip). Otherwise the instructions are the same.

To make the stem, take a strip of brown construction paper and roll it. Put a little glue to secure the edge. Cut the leaves from the green construction paper. I cut mine on a fold so the two leaves would be one piece. Then take a very thin strip of the green paper and roll it around a pencil tightly to curl it for the tendril. A piece of curling ribbon could also be used.

Then you just glue the leaves and tendrils together and then onto your pumpkin and then glue the stem. Hold the stem for a bit for the glue to set and then leave it alone until it dries.

If you use ribbon without wire, you may need to add some support on the inside to get your pumpkin to stand up on its own.  I used a rolled piece of orange construction paper in the top left one and the one directly underneath it shows you the pumpkin without it.

Well that is enough pumpkin for tonight, but stay tuned. I will share more tomorrow!!