Gift Pots
Are you trying to think of a unique gift for someone? Look no further! Consider giving a gift pot.
It’s a personal and long lasting gift that grandparents, friends, teachers or anyone else would appreciate.
Items You Need:
Terra cotta pot, potting soil, plants, acrylic paints, paintbrushes, craft spray
Take the pot and lay it out on newspaper. You or your kids personalize the pot with paint. (For our grandma we did handprints of each grandchild and then put their names under it.) After the paint has dried completely spray with an acrylic craft spray to keep the paint from running if it gets wet. Now just follow the instructions for container gardening. And there you have your gift pot!
Do you have any unique gift ideas like a gift pot that encompass nature and creativity? Nature For Kids would love to hear about them. Just email me at shawna@natureforkids.net.
container gardening, unique gift idea, activities for kids, activities for children, flowers
Treasure Hunt
Summer wouldn’t be complete for any kid without some kind of a treasure hunt. While visiting their Grandma Linda’s house this summer my kids had the treasure hunt of a lifetime! It involved battling evil giants, walking through tunnels of darkness and finding the remnants of an ancient king. Sound too hard to create? Think again. Linda shared her treasure hunt planning skills with me and now I’ll share them here at Nature For Kids! Let’s start with the map.
How To Make A Treasure Map: (that’s rad and looks pretty darn real)
Find a brown paper bag. Open it up into a rectangular shape. Tear the edges a little, then get it wet and crumple it up into a ball. Straighten the paper out and rub it lightly with a wet tea bag, a sponge with watered down brown paint or instant coffee. These first few steps will help it look OLD. Let it dry completely. Now *draw the map on it with permanent marker or fabric pens so it won’t run during the next step. After the map is drawn, very lightly rub the map with paper towels and a little dab of cooking or olive oil. The oil makes it more durable and sort of transparent. Blot the map between two fresh paper towels to get any excess oil out. All done!
*When drawing out the map consider replacing ordinary names with more mystical ones.
- Garden - Forbidden Garden
- Pasture - Valley of the Beasts
- Shed - Den of Darkness
- Lilac Bush - Witches Weeds
Before the treasure hunt began Linda gave everyone a bag to collect items along the way, a water bottle to stay hydrated and a sword to protect them from evil creatures. (see evil creatures below)
Evil Nanny Goats in the Valley of the Beasts!
Linda involved all the grandkids. One of the oldest, Brick, played the part of the giant. At 6′3″ he played the part nicely!
Linda created a skeleton out of styrofoam. One of their missions was to collect the bones in the land of desolation and put it together.
She also made a tunnel of darkness by putting tarp and blankets over the top of the clothesline.
After the conquering heroes had found their treasure they were awarded medals and crowns!
This treasure hunt will be remembered for years to come I’m sure! Now it’s your turn to create one. Morph this one to fit your location. Draw a map of the area. Change the names around a bit and make up a story line. Write out an instruction book and have the kids do certain things along the way (like collect items, fight monsters, etc.) The real treasure is the experience in my opinion! Send in your treasure hunt experience with some pictures. We’d love to hear about it here at Nature For Kids.
adventure, outdoors, treasure map, summer fun, kids, activities for children, activities for kids, treasure hunt
