Nature Crafts

This handmade stick mobile for the garden is the perfect way to use sticks the kids collect on nature walks and in the backyard.

Turn a vintage wood box into a herb fairy garden with fairy lights and a fountain using this step-by-step tutorial.

Looking for fun summer activities to do with the kids? Check out Marie from Make and Takes annual Get Out and Play Summer…

It was Halloween a few days ago.

I've been sick for the past week. I think I may be dying. I'm not really. It just feels that way. I have kidney stones. I've been collected by an ambulance and taken to the emergency room twice in the past 6 days and just yesterday spent even more time there.  Some days are better than others and right now seeing as I'm sitting in my office chair and not in my big green recliner it's a good day so far.

My point to sharing this is I missed Halloween. I spent the first half of the day in the hospital. The second half in that comfy green recliner in the living room with a heat pack, water, soup, cranberry juice and pain killers by my side. I missed the Halloween party at school, wasn't able to take the kids trick or treating (they went with their dad), and couldn't even hand out candy at home (thank you teenager for taking over). We didn't even put decorations out, just a pumpkin and a few spiders along the path.

So I'm going to pretend that I didn't miss Halloween. In my mind, it was actually a couple of weeks ago when we went to a special trick or treating Halloween event at the San Elijo Lagoon Nature Center with friends. Now that was a great day, there were costumes, crafting, trick or treating, good friends and lots of fun.

She makes a pretty cute witch, don't you think?

Obviously I hadn't quite gotten around to making their Agnes and Lord Vampyre costumes at this point, so we re-used costumes we already had on hand at home.

I enrolled the kids in a couple of sessions of Jr. Ranger camp over the summer at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. During the two day camps they attended they learned all about owls and studied animal and bird tracks.

If you've been reading my blog for a while,  you may remember that they attended the Lil Rangers camp last summer too.

This year though I emailed the camp director ahead of time and asked if I could move the kids into the Jr Ranger camp. They didn't quite meet the age cut-off (by just a couple of months) but when I read the activities that they would be doing, particularly studying owls, which I have such a love for, I needed them to be a part of it.

September 28, 2013 is National Public Lands Day. On this day, you get free admission to National Parks. Over at Rusty and Rosy…

Looking for a fun summer project for your little explorer? I've created a tutorial for kids to make this explorer kit over on…

How to make a butterfly clothespin craft for kids.

Christmas Day was spent with my husband's uncle.  It was snowing, and the kids were thrilled to wake up to a white Christmas. …

Make these fun fall leaf crafts and activities inspired by The Odd Life of Timothy Green movie.