Spring and Easter Themed Nature Crafts

As the weather starts to get a bit warmer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s time to start heading outside for nature walks and collecting natural materials for projects. Here are some great ideas for using natural materials on spring and Easter projects.

Let kids explore what it’s like to be a bird by giving them the challenge to create a nest using only natural materials and no adhesives. This idea comes from Kids Craft Room and it gives you a chance to collect materials, construct your nests, talk about and watch birds (or find bird nest building videos), even crafty tiny eggs or birds to go into the nest.

Put the kids to work collecting all the little fallen twigs in the yard and then you can craft with them. DIY Candy has collected 20+ craft ideas using twigs, and while they aren’t all suitable for kids (at least not without supervision), they should give you some good ideas for how to use sticks in your crafting.

Mother Natured used blown eggs to decorate with natural materials for a pretty and long-lasting Easter decoration. You could do the same thing with plastic or papier mache eggs if you have those on hand.

Or you can use egg shapes cut out of cardboard and decorate them with natural materials, like in this post from Sprouting Wild Ones. Or gather materials and make egg-shaped pieces of clay — or really any shape you like — and use the plant matter to make prints in the clay and paint them when they are dry. My Bright Ideas Blog shows you how.

Arts and Bricks has a cute collection of nature crafts for Easter, too. I particularly like the leaves cut like eggs and then painted or otherwise decorated, which is shown above with a picture from Learning and Exploring Through Play.

Need even more Easter and spring nature craft ideas? Check out this list from The Magic Onions.

Next Plan Idea:

Bird Learning Activities for Kids

Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa known for its desert and game reserves. About 70 percent of the country is part of the Kalahari Desert, and it is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.

Botswana Basics

Botswana is borders by South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
With an area of 224,610 square miles (581,730 square kilometers) it’s about the size of France, and is home to about 2.4 million people.
The country is essentially the nation-state of the Tswana people, and the name means “home of the Tswana.” The Tswana are descendants of Bantu speakers who settled in the area as early as 600 AD.
The British colonized the area in 1885, and it gained its freedom in 1966.
Evidence shows that the area was inhabited by humans at least 400,000 years ago, and some theorize that it was the birthplace of all modern humans around 200,000 years ago.
Gabarone is the nation’s capital and largest city.
English is the official language, but Setswana (the language of the Tswana) is recognized as the national language.
Botswana is a parliamentary republic that also has a president, but the same political party has ruled there since independence.

Botswana National Symbols

The flag of Botswana is mostly sky blue with a horizontal band of black in the center with narrower white lines on either side. The blue is meant to signify the sky and water, while the black and white bands represent harmony among the diverse people who live there.

The national anthem, “Fatshe leno la rona,” or “Blessed Be the Noble Land,” was adopted in 1966.

The coat of arms shows two zebra holding a shield between them. The shield includes important elements from Botswana including cogwheels to represent industry, a bull for cattle herding, sorghum for agriculture and an ivory tusk to represent the country’s high population of elephants. It also includes the national motto, pula, which means “let there be rain.”

Zebras are a national symbol of the country, both because it is neutral in terms of traditional tribal symbols, and because the combination of black and white on their bodies evokes racial harmony.

The national tree is the marula, also known as Sclerocarya birrea, which is a medium-sized tree known as the king of trees in Africa. Check out that link for all the different uses for the tree, plus some debunking of the myth that eating the marula fruits can make animals drunk.

The kgori is the national bird, and it is the largest flying bird in Africa. The national flower is Sengaparile or Harpagophytum procumbens, also known as Devil’s claw for its spiny fruits, but it is one of the most common medicinal plants in Southern Africa.

Botswana Activities for Kids

Since zebras are the national animal you can spend some time learning about them. Check out this post at National Geographic Kids, and make some zebra crafts from this list from Artsy Craftsy Mom.

KidsKonnect has a good page and downloadable resources about the Kalahari Desert, while Twinkl has a variety of downloads on deserts in general, desert animals, deserts of the world and a set specific to Botswana. You can also find country studies, mini books and more at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Learn more about the Okavango Delta, a vast inland river delta that is mostly pristine because a lot of it is a nature preserve.

Check out Old Palaypye, a site that has been occupied by humans since the middle Stone Age and is considered the first town established in Botswana.

The national dish of Botswana is seswaa, stewed meet (usually beef) served with pap, which is like polenta. Check out the recipe at G Adventures, or a lazy version from My Burnt Orange.

Looking for a picture book about Botswana? Try The Upside Down Baobab Tree.

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Botswana Basics

Botswana National Symbols

Botswana Activities for Kids

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