I'm with the groundhog, I am ready for spring! With spring thoughts come visions of gardening fun. My kids love being outside and digging in the dirt. They also love crafting colorful decorations to put in our gardens. The spring like weather is making an appearance this week and we are inspired to think ahead to our garden adventures.
7 GARDEN CRAFTS TO MAKE AHEAD FOR SPRING:
FAIRY GARDENS - Bringing an imaginary world to life in your own back yard feels pretty magical. Start by planning where you'd like to place your fairy garden. Will you add it to an existing garden bed, or a potted plant? Before you rush out to find little tiny things, have the kids look around the house with you for small things you can recycle into little tables, houses, or stepping stones. Let your kids use their imagination and help you bring this tiny world to life.
PET ROCKS - Adding some painted rocks to your garden will bring a fun and unexpected pop of color. Kids will love painting small rocks to look like bugs and butterflies, or anything else from their imagination. When the snow melts and you can finally get out to the gardens and let them help you find a little home for your new garden pets.
BIRD FEEDERS - This one you don't really have to wait until good weather to get a jump on. We have birds in our back yard all year. But creating a new decorative garden piece to unveil in Spring is a fun winter project. You can recycle items at home like tin cans, or even tea cups to create small decorative bird feeders. This could be a decorative focal point for your garden, and give kids an extra responsibility to look after by refilling birdseed.
STEPPING STONES - Colorful stepping stones are a beautiful way to mark a walk way, or small path through a garden. Kids will love getting to design their own stones. It is also a great way to memorialize your kids small hand prints or foot prints, and maybe your pets paw prints. Purchase a kit with everything you already need, or go online to find out how to make your own.
PAINTED POTS - Let your kids try their hand at painting plain terracotta pots. Line your work space with some plastic covering, line up the paints and brushes and let them get creative. You can use the pots to display flowers in your back yard, or start a small herb garden you can keep near a kitchen window.
WOODEN SPOON PLANT LABELS - If you are planning a bigger garden project you might need to label each row of plants. Painting wooden spoons found at the dollar store with a picture of each plant, or writing the names on them is a simple way to identify which plants you are growing. Once you plan your garden have the kids help you make these super easy plant markers.
START YOUR SEEDS - Most kids I know love the hands on learning that planting seeds provides. You can use an empty paper egg carton to start your seeds and then plant directly into the ground when ready. Plain ice cream cones work just as good and the kids will get a kick out of using ice cream cones in a fun way.
If gardening isn't your thing and you aren't too keen on getting dirty, you can still make paper flowers with your kids and read stories about gardening, or how seeds grow. Just thinking about the growing season can carry us through this last stretch of winter weather. If you do love gardening then any of the activities above will help you pass the cold wintry count down to spring.
The Whatever Mom is a full-time wife and twin mama living on coffee and wine. She enjoys the pure rush of cleaning the BIG potty between loads of laundry. It is her dream that moms everywhere accept and embrace the Whatever Mom philosophy which can be found here. You can also find her musings and popular shares on Facebook and Twitter. Stay up to date with her creative ideas and outings on Pinterest.
Other articles by The Whatever Mom