Use kids’ nature walk to teach, gather craft project

  • By Ashley Stewart Herald Writer
  • Friday, November 16, 2012 5:56pm
  • Life

Resist the temptation to sit in front of the TV on Thanksgiving Day.

Instead, bundle up the kiddies and set out into the neighborhood, a local park or a walking trail to scout for cool things to make a natural, inexpensive table decoration.

Bring along a basket and help the kids find colored leaves, acorns, pine cones and grasses. They can arrange the items in a vase for the dinner table or turn them into an art project while they wait (patiently) for the big meal.

Learn

Use the walk as an opportunity to talk with your children about nature and observe the things around them.

Explain the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees.

Pine cones come from coniferous trees that stay green all year long. Christmas trees are coniferous.

Colored leaves are from deciduous trees that change color when they stop producing a chemical, chlorophyll, in cold weather.

Acorns are from oak trees. “Helicopters,” those little seeds the spin in the wind, come from maple trees.

Create

Your craft store shopping list:

Glass hurricanes, 13 by 15 inches

Flameless pillar candles

Roll of kraft paper

Glue

Mod Podge

Small paintbrushes

Carefully rinse leaves and lay them out to dry. Rinse acorns and pine cones, then spread them on an old cookie sheet or one lined with foil. Dry them in the oven for about 30 minutes at 175 degrees to remove sap and to make sure that insects don’t make it to the dinner table.

Place a fat candle in a clear glass hurricane or cylinder vase and let the little guys arrange the items inside and around it.

If you take the kids on the leaf hunt ahead of time, they can make placemats to keep them busy and not underfoot.

Flatten the leaves between phone book or magazine pages and weight with something heavy on top for at least three days.

On Thanksgiving Day, set the kids up with the glue and paintbrushes, and show them how to arrange the leaves into shapes, flowers or even animals. Have them coat the backs of the leaves with glue and place them on heavy stock or kraft paper. Or cover the whole “kids’ table” with kraft paper and let them loose decorating it.

If you want to preserve their work, coat the leaves with Mod Podge when they’re in place.

Where to go

Centennial Trail: Trailheads with parking in Snohomish on Pine and Maple streets; Pilchuck on Machias Road; Machias near Division Street; Lake Stevens on 20th Street; near the Highway 92 overpass on 127th Street NE; Lake Cassidy (disabled parking only), 6216 105th Ave. NE, Lake Stevens; Rhododendron, 10911 54th Place NE, Lake Stevens; Getchell, 8318 Westlund Road, Arlington; Armar Road, 15333 67th NE, Arlington; Bryant, Highway 9 and Stanwood-Bryant Road; and CT North, 32328 Highway 9, Arlington.

Forest Park: 802 E. Mukilteo Blvd., Everett.

Langus Riverfront Park: 400 Smith Island Road, Everett.

North Creek Park: 1011 183rd St. SE, Mill Creek.

Thornton A. Sullivan Park at Silver Lake: 11405 W. Silver Lake Road, Everett.

More tree facts

1. Trees can live for hundreds to thousands of years.

2. California Redwoods can grow to more than 300 feet high (that’s half as tall as the space needle).

3. The American Indians used pine resin as an anti-inflammatory.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.