Easy Nature Based play Ideas — Magic & Medicine

Twins Anika and Seb playing with ripped newspaper

These are certainly interesting times we find ourselves in. A lot of us currently find ourselves confined at home with young children. I thought Id put my Naturopath hat aside and put my ECE teacher hat back on to give you some easy play ideas to keep the kids entertained. These are mainly nature based (some suggestions you may recognise from my gardening article) or based on materials you may have lying around the house.

Pine Cone Bird Feeders

You can use any sized pine cones you have lying round for this. Coat the pine cone thickly in peanut butter (or if theres peanut allergies, you could use lard) then tip birdseed onto a plate and roll the pinecone into the bird seed so it is now coated in seed. Then tie some string/yarn tightly around the base of the pine cone and form a loop. Your DIY bird feeder is ready to be hung outside! If you're making several bird feeders you can wrap spare ones in cling wrap or newspaper and store in the fridge until you're ready to use.

Nature people

If you have items like shells, pine cones, acorns, conkers, twigs etc you can use these as a base to make little “people.” Use the pinecones as the base of the body, then using PVC glue, stick twigs on for arms, acorns for the faces, you can use a marker to draw on faces or use small shells for eyes etc. If you have wool or cotton wool you could use this for hair and cut up old scraps of fabric to create cloaks, scarves etc.

Icy fun

Using either ice cube moulds or cute silicon shaped moulds, fill small items such as flowers, leaves, moss, shells etc. Add water and freeze over night. Your kids can now have fun admiring the suspended frozen objects and watching the ice melt in the sun or from the warmth of their hands.

Easy ideas for random things you may have lying around the house:

-Painting rocks to make cute pieces of art, these can be varnished after painting so you can keep them outside to decorate your garden.

-Collecting different shaped leaves or pieces of bark and placing them under paper and using crayons to create leaf rubbings.

Ripping up old stacks of newspaper into long strips (easier to clean up). Using these strips of paper, create a big pile and let your little one have fun throwing these strips around. You can store these ripped up paper pieces in a rubbish bag for reuse. I used to do this anytime my littlies needed to blow off steam and it worked a treat!

Put out a large plastic mat, then dot the mat with blobs of non toxic paint. Let your child have fun creating finger painting art on the plastic, or strip them down to nappy/underwear and let them experience using their whole bodies to paint. This is best done in summer and out doors, this way its minimal mess and you can hose down the mat and the children afterwards!
Simple bubble mix:In a jar mix 1 Tablespoon of dishwashing liquid with 1 Tablespoon of glycerin and a litre of water. You can fashion bubble wands out of some wire or pipe cleaners. Then have fun blowing your own bubbles.

If you Have a Garden here are some more ideas:

Gardening is also a wonderful way to get children out into nature and involve them in becoming guardians of our natural world. The garden is an excellent place to learn a bit of backyard science by watching small critters (insects, worms, birds etc), learning about how the sun, wind and water influences plant growth and to learn how food looks as it goes through its growth cycles. The garden is also a wonderful place to develop fine (picking up worms, planting seeds) and gross motor skills (digging, climbing) and of course the garden is one of the best places to let your child's imagination run wild; I have fond childhood memories of making mud pies and “witches brew” out of anything and anything my friends and I could find and stir into a bucket of water!!

A vegetable garden and/or herb patch is a great way to get children involved in meal times and can also encourage fussy eaters to try out new foods and expand their palates.

There are many other interesting plants that you can use when gardening with children; plants with strong aromas, interesting textures, plants that attract insects or plants that can be used to make dyes for craft projects or tasty herbs for teas/infusions. Below is a list of plants you may want to consider, please ensure correct identification when buying and growing your plants, especially if you are using them for teas or food (and steer clear of any plants that you or your family may have an allergy to).

Calendula; use the petals to colour paper, also can be used to make skin cream.

Mexican marigolds; use petals to colour paper

Rose; use petals to colour paper, petals are edible

Cornflower; use petals to colour paper, also petals are edible

Golden rod; can be used to make dye, medicinal tea and the plant attracts beneficial insects

Italian bugloss: Flowers are edible, roots can be used to make a red dye

Mullein; Attracts insects to hide in its leaves. Leaves are very tactile for kids as they are soft and fuzzy! Flowers can be used to make a yellow dye. Flower stems can be dried , dipped in candle wax and burned as candles (take care and appropriate safety precautions when handling hot wax and/or burning).

Lemon Balm, Peppermint, Pineapple Sage, Kawakawa, Thyme, Red Clover, Anise Hyssop; All make really nice tea infusions that can be cooled for kids drinks.

Borage, Cornflower, Pineapple Sage, Calendula, Nasturtium, Bergamot Bee Balm, Dianthus Clove Pinks; All have nice tasting flowers (flavours range from sweet to spicy) to eat.

Mullien, Golden rod, Fennel, Alyssum White, Red Clover, Bergamot Bee Balm, Lemon Balm, Catmint, Achillea 'Cerise Queen’, Bog Sage, Butterfly Plant, Field Scabious, Gayfeather, Hebe; are all beneficial insect attracting plants, so are wonderful for those little family members who are interested in bees, butterflies and creepy crawlies. You can have hours of fun looking for lizards, bugs and other critters in the garden!

Bug Hotels: Bug shelters can be easily made out of bits and pieces you have lying around. You want to use a range of materials to encourage all sorts of insects such as leaf roller bees, slaters, spiders, earwigs etc. Here is one I made using an old cable reel. I attached a house made of wooden blocks with holes drilled, used wire to make baskets to hold small pine cones and filled old plant containers with rolled up pieces of bark, wool fibre, leaves, twigs etc.