Nature Collectors

Nature Craft Activities

Does your little one love collecting Nature?

Yup. If you have a whole host of Nature Treasure, that you have no idea what to do with?! This is the page for you!

Believe me. I have sympathy for the folks who’s house is overrun with sticks that are just REALLY GOOD. Or drawers overflowing with pine-cones. For I am that person!

But! Nature Collecting, is just the best walking distraction EVER! And if you have a project to focus on, it really is a game changer!

So why don’t you check out the ideas below and try out a few yourself!

Wild Garlic Foraging

There is NOTHING that screams Spring more than walking into woodland and being smacked in the face by a gigantic waft of wild garlic!

Not only tasty, but a great walking incentive too!

We have a few ideas of what you can do with your collected wild garlic, so check out our recipes below!

We know a walk…

If you want to go on a walk to find loads of wild garlic, we can recommend Middleton Woods in Ilkley. The upper part of the woods near the stream is packed full of the stuff and is exactly where we foraged the wild garlic in the picture!

Potion Making

This is such a classic messy play idea! Grab a foraging bag and collect as many ingredients for your magic potion as possible! Then you can head out in the garden to create some messy muddy magic potion.

But have you ever thought of upscaling your potion? We foraged our own ingredients for a Harry Potter style Polyjuice Potion!

You can find out all of the ingredients you need to make a foaming bubbling polyjuice potion, by checking out the page!

Nature Ice Bauble

Nature Ice Baubles

This is a cool craft idea for those icy winter months!

Simply collect all your treasure (the brighter the better) and then pop them in a muffin tray. Top it up with water and either freeze it outside, or freeze it in the freezer!

Why not try…

We created an Easter twist on this activity by filling egg moulds with blossom and spring flowers then freezing them! It made for an egg-cellent (pun intended) game of icy egg and spoon racing!

Ice Egg and spoon race
Summer leaf painting

Leafy Crafts

Whether they be Summer or Autumn leaves, there is so much you can do with a leaf collection! We have had a lot of fun over the years coming up with loads of different ways to use them when they make it back home!

Why not try…

Paint them Like you can see pictured

Make leaf paperweights Simply paint stones and use PVA glue to stick and seal the leaves - just remember to press them first)

Make leaf shadow puppets You can cut them or arrange them into animal shapes, then attach them to lolly sticks)

Decorate a nature pumpkin

Make leaf print tiles Press them into air dry clay and paint them (or you can do this with seed pods too)

Make an autumn leaf mask Turn your autumn leaves into a lion’s mane and create an autumn leaf mask

So many leafy activities to try!

Stick walking sticks decorated with fairy lights

Stick Collector Crafts

I’ve been there. In fact…. I’M STILL THERE! I have a HOUSE FULL of bloomin’ sticks! Just a whole massive bunch of ‘really good sticks’. *Sigh.

But we have had a lot of fun with them…

Why not try one of these ideas with your own stick collection?

Make epic walking sticks (like the ones pictured). We cleaned and painted the sticks using acrylic paint, taped on stripes using paper tape, then added fairy lights! Super cool right?

Make a stick nature wand. Wind ribbon around your stick, tie on pieces of collected nature and hey presto, a magician is made!

Make stick worry dolls. This one we did for a Children’s Mental Health activity. The dolls were made out of thick sticks and wound with brightly coloured wool (for clothes) we added eyes, and drew on a mouth. You can tell your new stick friend all your worries!

Make a stick dream catcher Make a shape with your sticks, then tie them together with string (you can also use glue to reinforce the joints) thread wool across to make a criss cross pattern then hang feathers and beads off the bottom.

Make stick Christmas Trees This is a cool one for Christmas. You just need several sticks in the ever decreasing lengths. You can glue them onto felt or you can try to glue them together. Glue a stick at the bottom, a star at the top and tie on some twine!

We know a walk!

Stick collecting when you’re dealing with a connoisseur is a very important business but we think the BEST wood for crafting is driftwood and LOADS can be found at Swinsty and Fewston Reservoirs.

A foraged Christmas Wreath

Forage a Wreath

We love to do this at Christmas, but it can be done for all seasons if you wish!

First and foremost, the important thing to remember when foraging foliage is to not take away too much, not to damage or uproot a plant, or to pick protected wildflowers. Oh and don’t go and trespass to do so!

You can either buy or create your own wreath frame, then tie twine around it to add your foliage and build it up from there! Pinecones, teasels and holly make a great addition to a winter wreath! Or, you can buy some amazing wreath making kits from Catkin and Co. who will also send you some foliage recognition cards to so you can see what you are collecting!

We know a walk…

The wreath pictured was foraged on the open access land of Ilkley Moor, why not check out our Ilkley Moor walk.

Rock painting

Rock painting

Yes, the classic kids activity of painting a rock, then hiding a rock is just great. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it says I!

But this one will give you two walks worth of fun! First walk, find the perfect rocks, second, find the perfect hiding spot! Simples!

Why not try?

Creating paperweights (you can see our Autumn leaf ones above)

Make Pebble Noughts and Crosses. Collect 12 small-ish pebbles. Paint them, then paint a nought or cross on the top!

Pine Cone Crafts

I will admit that I bloomin’ LOVE pine cones! So really it’s me who drives the pine cone collecting! Because that are just so darn pretty!

There is SO much you can do with a pine cone…. so batten down the hatches, because I’m hurling these ideas right at’ch’ya!

Why not try?

Pinecone printing You can dip these beauties in paint and roll them all over wrapping paper to create a unique homemade wrapping paper! Best bit? You can use the painted pinecones as present toppers too!

Pine Cone Chicks Got a pinecone that’s a bit knackered? Snip off the remaining pine-y bits and create a filled circular pattern on card. Paint them, add eyes and a beak and there you go! Fluffy pinecone chicks!

Pinecone decorations You can either dip the cones in eco-glitter and tie string around the top, or you can glue some pom poms into the gaps to make decorations! These last for years! I have so many on my Christmas tree!

PInecone bird feeders Fill the gaps with peanut butter and bird seed, hang them on a thread and hang them outside. Got a nut allergy (like us!) You can use lard to replace the peanut butter.

Blackberry ice cream

Blackberry Picking

One of the greatest things to do in the late Summer in my opinion!

Stained fingers, juicy ripe blackberries, blackberry ice cream……

This is a top way to get rid of the walking whinge! Simply take a tub with you and off you go!

We know a walk…

Here are some great blackberry picking walks! The moor below White Wells is quite simply heaving with blackberries come late Summer, or why not try Brimham Rocks? Swinsty Reservoir and our circular walk to Cauldron Waterfalls has ace blackberries too!

Wildflower Crafts

We’re talking daisies and dandelions and the beautiful world of wildflowers now!

Nothing is more beautiful than a bouquet of blooms clutched in a muddy hand! So what can you do with the flowers you find?

(Don’t pick protected wildflowers - such as native bluebells - stick to the whole range of the other fabulous flowers there are to see in the wild and never uproot any)

What can you do?

Press them! It’s the first stop for all your wildflower crafting needs!

Wildflower candle holder Grab your PVA glue and glue them to the outside of a glass jar.

Wildflower kaleidoscope Press your flowers and pop them between two large circular clear sheets of plastic. Put a butterfly (split) pin through the middle. You could use the film from food packaging for this or a laminating pouch if you have one. Get some mirrored card and fold it to create a triangular tube with the mirror side facing inside. Grab some circular card slightly larger than the tube and draw around the triangle of the tube, then cut out the inner triangle. Slide the triangle hole around the tube and tape. Fix the butterfly pin to that and then turn your kaleidoscope. It’s a more tricky craft, but totally worth it!

Hapa Zome The art of bashing stuff! (Technical term there!) This Japanese craft will get you bashing flowers or foliage to create a naturally dyed pattern on fabric!

Scroll using the arrows for all our Family Friendly Walks

Follow us for up to date Outdoors Adventures!

We live and BREATHE the Yorkshire Dales outdoors life!

BEEN INSPIRED? Tag us @reluctantexplorers

Come follow our journey over on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, where you’ll find up to date walk info, breaking news on Yorkshire Events, new Yorkshire Dales wild swim spots, climbing, caves and more!

Follow us on Social Media for all the up to date info: @thereluctantexplorers