Acorn Necklaces Capped acorns Tacky glue Fuzzy yarn and wool Permanent marker Scissors String Gather

capped acorns and carefully remove the caps. To make hair, put one large drop of tacky glue on the top of each acorn and press wisps of fuzzy yarn and wool roving into it. After applying a second drop onto the wisps, put the caps back on and hold them on for one minute. Use a permanent marker to draw faces. Trim the hair, then make "chains" by tying string around the cap stem and securing it with a drop of glue. Leaf Mobile colorful fall leaves heavy book for pressing clear contact paper tree branch thread First, collect colorful fallen leaves. Press them between the pages of a heavy book for a day or two to flatten them. For each leaf, cut two squares of clear contact paper an inch or two wider than your leaf. Peel the backing off of one piece and lay it sticky-side up. Place the leaf in the center, then peel the backing off the second piece and carefully place it on top. Punch a hole for hanging. Trim the edges of the contact paper, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Hang the leaves from a tree branch with thread. Place the branch in a heavy vase or suspend it from a curtain rod. Nutty Boats Walnut shell Leaf Twig Clay For each, you'll need an intact half of a walnut shell. Thread a leaf onto a twig for a mast and a sail. Secure the mast to the inside of the shell with a small ball of clay. Tips: To open a walnut without breaking the shell, hold it steady on a cutting board, insert the tip of a flathead screwdriver or a butter knife into the flat end of the seam, and carefully pry the halves apart.

Leaf printing activity: collect leaves, coat with fabric paint, press onto shirt or other fabric, blot off excess paint, enjoy. Scented Pine Cones Assorted pine cones; a mixture of types and sizes adds texture and interest - you will need enough to make a sizable heap in a pie dish cup pickling spice cup cinnamon powder cup whole cloves or 1/8 cup ground cloves spray adhesive plastic shopping bag onion bag Mix pickling spice, powdered cinnamon and cloves. If desired, sprinkle with essential oils (some suggestions: sandlewood, patchouli, orange, cinnamon, balsam) and mix thoroughly. Set aside. Put the pine cones into a large plastic shopping bag and spread them out so they form a single layer at the bottom of the bag. See photo at right. Aim the spray adhesive directly onto the pine cones, but stand away from the bag to avoid breathing in any overspray. Quickly close the bag with your hands and shake it thoroughly to turn the pine cones over. Open the bag, allowing the pine cones to settle in a single layer at the bottom, and re-spray with glue. Empty the pickling spice mix over the pine cones, close the bag again with your hands and shake thoroughly to distribute. Empty the pine cones into a pie dish, or something similar, and allow to dry. Place the pine cones in a recycled onion bag or sieve. Shake and stir the pine cones to dislodge any spices that aren't sticking to the glue. If you're using the mesh bag to enclose the pine cones for gift-giving, tie the bag closed then enclose in a clear plastic bag tied with ribbon. Decorate or wrap as desired. To display the scented pine cones in a basket, empty the pine cones into the basket, decorate the basket with a wire-edged ribbon, and enclose everything in cellophane wrap tied with ribbon. Waxed Leaves Paraffin wax 2 clean cans, one smaller than the other Newspaper Colorful leaves Waxed paper Place a piece of paraffin wax in the smaller can, and place the smaller can inside the larger one. Add warm water to both cans, filling them to about a half-inch below the rim of the small can. When melted, the wax will float on top of the

water. Simmer the water over medium heat until the wax has melted. To avoid spatters, don't let the water and wax come to a full boil. Use pot holders to remove the cans from the stove and put them on the newspaper. Hold a leaf by its stem, carefully dip it into the wax, then lay it on waxed paper to harden. Glue-Batik Banner Cotton muslin fabric or an old bed sheet, washed and dried Plastic wrap or waxed paper Washable glue Wide paintbrushes Acrylic paints Paper plate or Styrofoam tray Plastic tub, bowl, or sink Iron Stick Yarn Rip the fabric to the size you want. Tearing the fabric leaves a natural-looking edge that won't fray. Lay the fabric on a surface covered with plastic wrap or waxed paper. Draw your design on the fabric with glue. Trace the outlines of maple leaves, then add lines inside the shapes for veins. Let the glue dry undisturbed for about 24 hours. Use a wide brush and water to wet the entire piece of fabric. Add small puddles of acrylic paint to a plate or tray and mix each one with a bit of water to thin it. Beginning with the leaves, brush the diluted paints onto the fabric, allowing the colors to flow together as in a watercolor painting. Paint the background using the same technique. Let the fabric dry, about 2 hours. Soak the fabric for 20 to 30 minutes in a tub, bowl, or sink filled with warm water. Gently rub away the glue, then rinse the fabric thoroughly and allow it to dry. Iron it flat, if desired. Lay the fabric facedown and place the stick across the top edge. Fold the fabric over the stick and glue down the edge to form a sleeve. Tie braided yarn to the ends of the stick for hanging. Bark-Rubbing Trees Thin white paper Colored paper Wax crayons Scissors Glue

Take crayons and paper with you and find a tree with textured bark. Hold a sheet of paper against the tree trunk and keeping the paper still scribble over the paper to make a bark rubbing. It may be easier to use the side of a crayon. Repeat on different types of tree, using different colors. Back at home, cut the rubbings into the shapes of winter trees, with trunks and bare branches. Glue trees onto colored paper. Overlap the different trees for an interesting effect. Leaf poundings We found this idea in an old Girl scout leaders book and have seen it many, many times on the web. First, youll need napkins made from cotton or linen, a few fall leaves picked fresh from the tree, some clear packing tape and a pencil. Simply place a leaf in one corner of the napkin, tape it down and have the child draw on top of the leaf, pressing as firmly as possible to stain the fabric, being sure to press on every spot. Then remove the leaf and tape, press the fabric, and its ready for dinner. These prints will fade some over time and with washing. Another way to do this craft is to place waxed paper on a sturdy table. On top of the waxed paper place some fresh leaves and flowers. Place your bandana on top. Use a rubber mallet to pound (gently) on the bandana overtop of the areas where there are leaves and flowers until the color from the leaves or flowers come through the material. Continue this way with other leaves and flowers until the entire bandanna is covered. The bandanas will be washable, but don't use Clorox or a strong detergent when washing them. Leaf Votive Leaves and foliage Glass votive holder or jar White tissue paper White craft glue Water Paintbrush Tea light candles Collect small leaves and other foliage from outside. Be sure theres still some life in the leaves, they shouldnt be too dry or crumbly. Once selected, lay leaves in a single layer and place a large book on top to flatten them. Leave for an hour or two. Spread a layer of white craft glue on the outside of the votive holder. Stick the leaves to the glue and press into place. Let dry. Mix equal parts of water and white craft glue to create a decoupage paste. Tear tissue paper into squares about one to two inches in size. Use a paintbrush to glue the tissue paper over the leaves using the decoupage mixture. Overlap the tissue paper and make sure all of the glass is covered. Carry

over the lip of the votive holder as well and be sure that the tissue paper is decoupaged against the inside of the glass. Allow the jars to dry overnight. Place a tea light candle inside each votive holder. Leaf Rubbing We gathered some leaves, put them under paper and rubbed them with crayons. We liked the result we achieved when we rubbed each one with several colors. It made them look more like real leaves with the variations in the color & added more depth. We cut out the leaf rubbings and hung them from another string stretched across the window.

Snow Dough 1 cup flour 1/2 cup salt 1 Tbsp. oil 1 cup water 2 tsp. cream of tartar glitter 1 Tbsp. white paint Peppermint essential oil If you'd like, omit the paint and glitter, and just make a huge batch and color different colors and scent with different essential oils. For example, lavender for purple dough, strawberry for pink, etc. Mix everything except glitter and essential oil in a pan over low heat. Stir constantly until dough thickens and pulls away from the side of the pan, or until it looks like batch of mashed potatoes. Knead in glitter and essential oil. We used a cookie cutter to cut out snowflakes, but you could use stamps or just freeform cut them. Snow Painting in a Blizzard Today, we are having blizzard and we can't wait for the wind to die down so we can go outside and play! We are planning to do a little snow painting.

Start by picking out different colors of kool-aid. We made them with half the water and none of the sugar. We filled clean squeeze bottles with the kool-aid. We added some food coloring to the weaker shades. Later we realized sugar free might have worked better, since it comes with sweetener in it. The kids of course ended up eating the colorful snow which was a little on the sour side without the sugar. Ice Votives two buckets, one smaller then the other Some greens Fill the biggest bucket half full with water. Place the smaller bucket inside it and place some rocks or something heavy to keep it in place. Add more water, the water level should be to the top. Add your branches to the sides of the bucket. Use some tape to keep the small bucket in the middle of the big one. Now set the whole thing outside to freeze. Once its frozen, remove the small bucket first and then the large one. Place a votive candle inside. Snow Votive Holders A small glass jar White school glue Table salt Collect your jar(s), wash, and remove any labels. Paint the school glue in an even and a little-more-than-thin coat on the outer surface of the jar. Sprinkle the table salt onto the glue. Allow it to dry and place votive candle inside. Inside Snowstorm Circle labels 1-inch dental floss Attach the dental floss to the adhesive side of a label. Place a second label over the top of the first, sandwiching the dental floss between the two. Randomly space your labels along the length of dental floss to give your finished snowstorm a natural look. Hang finished strands in front of windows using small pieces of masking tape affixed to the tops of the window frames Snowflake Craft Baggie Paper Fabric paint Glitter

Cut a snowflake out of paper. You can also cut one out of a magazine or print out a graphic from your computer. Make sure the snowflake can fit in the baggie. Put your snowflake inside the baggie. Trace the outline of your snowflake on the outside of the baggie using the Fabric paint. Sprinkle with glitter. Set aside to dry. Once the paint is dry, you can peel your paint snowflake off the baggie. These make great window clings.

Birds in a Nest Use the side of the cardboard dipped in brown paint to create the branches of the tree. A potato cut in a half circle, dipped in paint, can be used to print the bird's body. Then we simply used our finger to create the heads of the birds. By using the end of a small piece of cardboard, we created a triangle bird tail. After the tails, we added the eyes, beaks, and feet with a small paintbrush. Using pine needles, leaves, craft feathers, and some twine we created a nest. You could also use raffia, straw, grasses, or anything that you can find! We put a bunch of glue and arranged the materials to create the nest! Making Paint Out Of Flowers Simply lay the grass or flower on your paper and crush it with a rock. You can then cut out some great spring shapes to hang in a mobile. Bookshelf Terrarium Cover the bottom of a jar with gravel, and add 1/4 inch of ground charcoal. Mix 2 parts potting soil, 2 parts peat, and 1 part builder's sand; add to jar. Dig small holes for plants, such as sweet flag or Chinese elm. Spray completely with water before putting on lid. The terrarium should retain moisture, so rewatering won't be necessary, but check the soil periodically to be safe, Naturally Dyed Eggs. For red dye: Take 1 to 2 beets (about 3/4 pound) and roughly chop it. Combine it with 1 quart water, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1 tablespoon salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain, reserving the liquid for dyeing. For yellow dye: Heat 1 quart water, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1 tablespoon salt in a saucepan. Add 6 tablespoon ground turmeric and stir well. Simmer for just a few minutes until the turmeric dissolves. For blue dye: Take 1 large red cabbage (about 1 pound) and shred it. Combine in a saucepan with 1 quart water, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 30 minutes. Strain, reserving the liquid for dyeing.

To dye the eggs: Simply soak them in the liquids until they are the desired colors. At first, the colors will be quite pale, though beautiful. To achieve a truly rich blue, the egg needs to soak for a few hours. Try a little experimenting using two dyes on the same egg: yellow and blue to make green, red and yellow to make orange. Onion Skin Eggs Unlike traditional egg-dyeing, these eggs are not pre-boiled before coloring. Rather, the cooking and dyeing process happens all at once. You'll need the skins of at least 8 to 10 onions for every dozen eggs. (The onions themselves should then be used sooner than later.) In addition to the onion skins, which will color the eggs nicely by themselves, you can also collect leaves, flower petals, leafy herbs, uncooked rice, etc. to leave impressions against the outside of the eggs. You'll also need cloth to wrap the eggs with: for a couple dozen eggs, say a yard or two of inexpensive muslin or other white fabric. Cut it into large squares and build your egg on top. To tie the eggs, lightly colored yarn or kitchen twine works well. Make sure to wrap yours up distinctively so that it will be easily recognizable once they all head into the pot. Boil for 10 to 12 minutes to set the colors and cook the eggs. Then unwrap them and see how they turned out! Plantable Paper Junk mail paper 3 embroidery hoop Stapler Floral tape or duct tape Mesh screen Paper Blender Bowl Pressed flowers, zinnia, lavender and basil Seeds Fabric Sponge Cut the screen just larger than the embroidery hoop and staple it to the outside. Secure the screen and cover the staples with waterproof floral tape or duct tape. Tear the paper into small pieces and add it to the blender until its about half-full Add warm water until the blender is 2/3 full and blend until the paper is

completely processed with no lumps. Dip the screen into the pulp and, holding it level, scoop pulp on top of the frame. While you are holding it on the frame, allow it to drip and sprinkle on some pressed flowers and seeds. In one quick motion, flip the paper onto the fabric and before removing the frame, press with a sponge to remove excess water. Once you have removed the frame, you can press again to remove more water. Allow the paper to dry on the fabric for a few hours, then carefully peel it up and move it to a dry surface, then let it dry overnight. If you put the paper out in the sun, it will dry quickly. I think these would be pretty with rubber stamp imprints, punched hole designs, or stamped letters Carp Windsock 12- by 15 1/2-inch Tyvek envelope often used for overnight shipping Acrylic paint Paintbrush Tacky glue 3-inch-wide plastic cup Clothespins Embroidery needle String Dowel Freehand draw a fish shape on envelope an cut the envelope open and lay it flat, blank side up, on a table. Paint a fish design on both pieces; one should be a mirror image of the other. Leave an unpainted border of at least an inch on the edge near the mouth. Glue the two pieces together, right-sides out, along the two long seams; leave the tail and mouth seams open. Let the glue dry. Cut an inch-wide ring from the top of the plastic cup and slip it into the fish's mouth. Fold the top inch of the Tyvek over the ring and glue it in place. Use clothespins to clamp the Tyvek in place as the glue dries. Double-thread an embroidery needle with about five feet of string. Poke the needle through one side of the mouth, across the inside, and out the other side. Cut the needle free and knot the two ends of the string for the hanging loop. Wrap or tie the string to a dowel or a flagpole, and let it swim in the breeze.

Bee House Mason bees are gentle, they don't swarm, and they rarely sting, making them a considerate guest in your garden. They lay eggs in the spring, so be sure to get your house out early. Ruler and pencil Handsaw or power saw 8-foot-long 1 by 10 board of pine, spruce, or fir (not pressure-treated) Tape Hammer 24 to 36 (1-1/2-inch) wire or finishing nails Power drill with a 5/16-inch (8 mm) bradpoint bit at least 8 inches long Sandpaper Picture-hanging kit rated to hold 8 pounds or more Measure, mark, and saw off section 1 from the board, as shown in the diagram. Use it as a template to mark and saw the five matching pieces. Stack the six pieces and temporarily wrap them with tape. Place the taped stack vertically on the remaining board and mark the base. Saw along the line. The remaining board is the roof. Use the hammer and nails to attach the base and roof to each of the six pieces. Make sure the back of the roof is flush with the house's back. Remove the tape. Mark holes every 1-1/2 inches on the front of the vertical pieces, then drill a hole 3 to 8 inches deep at each mark, avoiding nails. (The bees lay female eggs in the backs of the holes, male eggs closer to the front.) It's easier to drill the shallower holes on the outer boards. Smooth the openings with the sandpaper. Knock the sawdust from the holes.

Using the picture-hanging kit, mount the house facing south or southeast on a wall, fence, pole, or other support. Look for telltale mud walls inside the holes over time. Next spring, full-grown bees should emerge. A Fossil Print 1 cup Flour 1/2 cup Cold Coffee 1 cup Coffee Grounds (used) 1/2 cup salt Twigs Leaves Shells Tiny bones First, go outside and search for treasures to make into Fossils. Good things to use are twigs, leaves, shells, tiny bones, hard-shelled, dead, bugs. Next, measure all ingredients and put into a bowl. Stir well. If the mixture seems a little too moist (it should resemble a dlough consistency), add a little more flour. Knead until smooth. Work the dough into smooth balls and then flatten on a piece of waxed paper. Press objects into the clay, using one or more of the collected items. Remind kids to share. Allow all fossils to dry thoroughly before removing from the waxed paper. Spore Prints Mushroom caps White unlined index cards Black paper Drinking glass or bowl Hair spray or acrylic fixative Find a mushroom in the wild, or get some from the store. (Be careful when handling wild mushrooms -- don't eat them!) You will have to find some with the caps open. Look underneath the cap. The gills inside are lined with structures that make and release spores by the millions. Each spore can grow into a new fungus. Cover half of an index card with black paper. Pop out the stem from the mushroom cap and place the cap on the card so that half is on the black paper and half on the white. Cover with a glass or bowl and let the cap sit overnight. The next day remove the glass and the mushroom cap. You should see a print of the mushroom spores. Pale spores will show up on the black paper, while darker ones will show on the white. Spray the print with hair spray or acrylic fixative to keep it from smearing. Grass Prints Grasses of various kinds (include seed heads) Paper

Wax paper Water-based paints Paintbrush Cloth (optional) Lay your grasses out on a table and choose those you like the best. Arrange the grasses you like on paper. Try making interesting contrasts between lacy seed heads and thick grass blades. Lay the grass on wax paper. Load a brush with paint and dab the paint on the grass until it is thinly but fully coated on one side. Lift the painted grass from the wax paper and lay it, paint side down, on the paper you want to print. another sheet of wax paper on top and press gently so that the grass makes good contact with the paper. Remove the wax paper and grass. Watercolor paint works on white paper, while tempera looks nice on colored paper. Use fabric paint on cloth to make grassprinted T-shirts and bandannas Plaster Fish Fish Modeling clay Plaster of Paris Mixing container for plaster Spoon Acrylic paints Paintbrush Spray acrylic Hot glue or cement (optional) Clean your fish and leave the head on. Lay it out flat in a pan. Set it in a freezer overnight and let it freeze. The next day, remove the fish from the freezer. Roll out a slab of modeling clay a little bigger and a little thicker than your fish. Press the fish firmly into the clay. Gently pull it out and see if you like the mold you've made. If there are air bubbles or imperfections, knead the clay, roll it out, and try again. When you've got a mold you like, put the fish back in the freezer. Mix some plaster in a container until it is about as thick as heavy cream. Pour the plaster slowly into the mold. Try to avoid making air bubbles. Let the plaster dry several hours, then remove it from the mold. Let the plaster dry completely overnight before attempting to remove any clinging bits of modeling clay. Once your plaster fish dries, decorate it with acrylic paints. Use the frozen fish as a color model to ensure that your plaster fish looks as real as possible. After the paint dries, spray it with clear acrylic coating. If you like, use hot glue (with adult help) or contact cement to mount your plaster fish to a wall plaque.

Toad Shelter Broken ceramic flower pot or bowl Mosses and soft leaves Plenty of moisture Use a broken pot or bowl turned with the curved side up as a toad shelter. Line the ground beneath the pot with moist moss and leaves. Make sure you put the pots near an area where there is plenty of water. Then wait for the toads to arrive. They'll eat lots of bugs and give you plenty to look at. Sun Prints First you lay out your items on the paper in the shade. We then covered them with plexiglass to hold the pieces in place and moved them into the sunshine. However, the plexiglass seemed to block some of the sunlight getting through to the paper (you can tell by how the paper is changing color), so we took it off and exposed the papers a little longer. After a few minutes, you develop the papers in a tray of water and then let them dry. They will continue to darken over a couple of days.

Backyard Bird Feeder Clean 1-liter soda bottle Craft knife 2 wooden spoons small eye screw Length of twine for hanging Start by drawing a 1/2-inch asterisk on the side of a clean 1-liter soda bottle, about 4 inches from the bottom. Rotate the bottle 90 degrees and draw another asterisk 2 inches from the bottom. Draw a 1inch-wide circle opposite each asterisk, as shown. Use a craft knife to slit the asterisk lines and cut out the circles (a parent's job). Insert a wooden spoon handle first through each hole and then through the opposite asterisk, as shown. Remove the bottle cap and twist a small eye screw into the top of it for hanging. Finally, fill your feeder with birdseed, recap it, and use a length of twine to hang it from a tree Oriole Food 1 part sugar/6 parts water

Boil the water first, then measure and add sugar, at the rate of 1/3 cup of sugar to 2 cups of water. Let cool and store excess in refrigerator until ready to use. Although commercial oriole food is usually orange colored, do not add food coloring, honey, or artificial sweetener to this homemade oriole food recipe. You will need to clean your feeder every few days, with hot water and a mild (10%) bleach solution to inhibit mold. Rinse thoroughly before refilling with water syrup Bottle Hummingbird Feeder small, clean plastic soda or water bottle with cap small, clean deli container hammer and a large nail Awl, ice pick or other instrument to cut plastic Red enamel paint small paintbrush 20 - 40 inch piece of thin bendable wire Hammer the nail into the center of the cap to make a small hole. Remove the nail. Make a large hole in the center of the deli container. The hole should fit snuggly around the mouth of the bottle. Make four small holes in the deli container for feeding stations Turn the lid over and make sure there are no sharp edges that the hummingbirds may cut their tongues on. Decorate the bottle and container with the red enamel paint. Wrap the wire around the body of the bottle. Twist the tail end of the wire together so you have a loop Hummingbird Nectar Recipe 1 part sugar/4 parts water Boil the water first, then measure and add sugar, at the rate of 1/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water. Let cool and store excess in refrigerator until ready to use. Do not add food coloring, honey (which ferments), or artificial sweetener, which has no nutritional value. You will need to clean your feeder about once a week. According to the National Audubon Society, this should be done by rinsing with one part white vinegar to four parts water. If the feeder is dirty, try adding a few grains of dry rice to the vinegar solution to help scrub it clean. Follow the vinegar wash by rinsing three times with clear, warm water before refilling with sugar solution. Log Suet Feeder

Drill, with a 1-1/4 inch drill bit, a log of wood roughly 18 inches long and about 10 inches around, holes right through the log to make suet food ports down the length of the log. First, clamp the log in a vise or woodworking bench to keep it immobile while you drill. Fit the drill bit securely onto the drill and begin the first hole a couple of inches from the top. Once the first hole is drilled completely through, rotate the log in the vise about 90 degrees and begin drilling the second hole a few inches below the first one. This hole will tunnel underneath the one above it, pointing in a different direction. Repeat the process, so the third hole points the same way as the first one, and the fourth hole points the same way as the second hole. If desired, you could add handy perches by drilling much smaller holes directly below each food port, then inserting strong twigs or dowels. Drill the perch holes about 1-1/2 inches deep, then insert a four or five inch twig or dowel, dipping the end of the perch in wood glue prior to insertion. Tap the other end of each perch lightly with a hammer to secure. Finally, add a hook to the top of the log, pack the food ports with suet and hang it up. Birch log suet feeders look nice if the logs are old enough to have the characteristic white birch bark, but maple or oak logs with the bark intact offer the birds a rougher surface on which to cling. Firewood piles are often a great source of small logs that could also be used for this nature project. Buildable Bird http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/pdf/crafts/BirdOrnament.pdf

Make Way for Ducklings! After reading and watching books, video, DVDs and musical recordings about ducks with one mother duck leading smaller baby ducks around. Make ducklings one large and the rest small. How many ducklings does your mother duck have? Where are they going? Try telling one of the stories

using your ducks. Copy an outline like this one from http://www.supercoloring.com. Fingerplay: Two Little Birds (Traditional) Two little birds, (Two thumbs up) Sitting on a hill. One named Jack, (One thumb up) One named Jill. (Other thumb up) Fly away Jack, (One thumb behind you) Fly away Jill. (Other thumb behind you) Come back Jack, (One thumb up) Come back Jill. (Other thumb up) Two little birds, (Two thumbs up) Sitting on a wall. One named Peter, (One thumb up) One named Paul. (Other thumb up) Fly away Peter, (One thumb behind you) Fly away Paul. (Other thumb behind you) Come back Peter, (One thumb up) Come back Paul. (Other thumb up) Bird Watching Put bird puppets, stuffed bird toys, or pictures of birds around the room. Use a pair of binoculars to look for birds. Curl your fingers up to your eyes to make pretend binoculars or make a pair from paper tubes. Staple two tubes together. They should be placed side by side and stapled along the length of their touching sides. Color the tubes, if you like. Punch two holes in the viewing end of the binoculars. Thread the yarn through the holes. Leave enough extra that the binoculars may easily be slipped over the neck for safekeeping As you find birds, look for them in a field guide. Say the name of the bird, says the color of the bird, or count them Floating Swans Make swans from construction paper, using this floating swan as a pattern and cork to float in a large shallow

pan or plastic container filled with water. Cut a slit across the cork. Insert the swan into the slit so that it stands up. Allow the children to float the swans in the container filled with water.

Clay wind Chime I am always looking for craft projects that celebrate the outdoors. I know, a ceramic wind chime isn't the most accessible project for most of you, but I wanted to share this idea, I found on the web, because I'm quite sure that it can inspire you to create something wonderful if you give it a bit of thought! Plus, I thought you'd like to see my garbage can kiln. This project was made by my kids simply using leaves from my friend Patty-Cake's fig tree. The leaves were pressed into rolled out clay we had harvested from a river bank in Southern IL and then the shapes were cut out with a knife, and fired in the kiln. You could do this project with air-drying clay, but the shapes won't "chime" when they bump one another. So why not add something like glass, metal spoons or jingle bells to the mobile that would chime. This is my backyard kiln. We fire the kiln on a dirt surface away from any combustible materials. We drilled holes at 6" intervals in the sides and lid of a small galvanized garbage can. For fuel we use dried horse dung mixed with sawdust. You can more about various primitive firing methods (http://art.sdsu.edu/ceramicsweb/articles/primitive.html). We load the kiln and light it as early in the morning as possible. We put a layer of half dried horse poo and half sawdust on the bottom of the can to a depth of about 10 inches. Then add one or more pieces and cover with more fuel. We continue this process until the pieces are all in and covered with about 10 more inches of fuel. Light the fuel in several places around the top of the can. Then place the lid very loosely over the top. The fuel should smolder allowing wisps of smoke to rise from the kiln. Check your kiln at the end of day. What you should find is your projects nestled in a bed of gray ashes. If it hasn't totally burnt down, be sure that you have some means of protecting the kiln overnight. Next day, unload the pots. This type of kiln is easy and cheap to build and can accommodate anything that will fit in it. It is also called a raku kiln. Good luck and have fun, Tuggers, I can't wait to see how your projects come out.

Using embroidery hoops and metal cookie cutters, a variety of bolts and washers, serving forks, pieces from broken wind chimes and anything else that makes a sound when they bang together, create your own chime. You can use fishing line to tie the pieces on or pieces of colored string.