I love looking up crafts that we can make each season. Here are some nature crafts and activities from last winter and some we have been enjoying recently.
Ice decorations
Last year we made some ice decorations inspired by The Wild Year Book: Things to do Outdoors Through the Seasons by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield.
We filled a balloon with water and left it out on a cold night to freeze. We also filled various different shaped baking trays and tins with water and wild materials which created beautiful ice windows and decorations.
Twig decorations
Last year I borrowed a Scandi Christmas book from the library which was full of lovely ideas, including these simple twig decorations. We made ours with hot glue.
We subscribe to the Mud and Bloom gardening and nature craft boxes and this month’s box was a twig star decoration activity, with a lovely silver paint for the twigs. We made a star and then also made some snowflakes by hot gluing on some smaller sticks to each end.
Ice and snow lanterns
I saw the idea for ice and snow lanterns in The Wild Year Book. Last winter we filled small containers with water, leaves and petals, and put a cup with something heavy in the middle to weigh it down. We left them out overnight and then when they had frozen we put a tea light in the centre. Pretty ice lanterns!
We also loved making a snow lantern! We saw this in 101 Things For Kids To Do Outside by Dawn Isaac. We made lots of snowballs and then put them in a circle, with the next layer making the circle a bit smaller and continuing until there’s a small opening at the top. We put a tea light inside and when it was lit it looked magical!
Jam jar lanterns
Again this craft came from the Scandi Christmas book. I loved these twig jars which were made by hot gluing twigs around the jar.
For Christmas we have also made some of these flower and leaf jar lanterns to give as gifts.
Decorated candles
This is a new one for me and is another activity from the December Mud and Bloom box. Using pressed leaves and flowers to decorate a red candle is such a lovely idea. This activity involved putting the leaf on the candle and then wrapping greaseproof paper around it. You then held a spoon that has been sitting in boiling water on the greaseproof paper to make it stick. (I highly recommend the Mud and Bloom boxes, we love them!). We’ll be giving these as Christmas gifts, in log candle holders made by my husband.
Nature wreath
One of Christmas traditions is to make a wreath from foraged/natural materials. This year my son and I made one at an event at a local nature reserve so he also made the willow circle. I love doing this each year and having a handmade creation on the door.
