Garden Crafts

Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities

Welcome to Danielle's Place where we believe learning should be fun. This site is dedicated to teaching children
through crafts and activities. You will find hundreds of inexpensive crafts and activities including complete Sunday
school lessons and Bible-based lessons for Christian home schools.

Garden Crafts

Stepping Stones - These are great keepsakes and will last for many years in your garden.

Butterfly Stepping Stone What you will need:

1. Cement or mortar (Don't get the concrete mix that has rocks in it.)

2. Mixing buckets

3. Plastic gloves

4. Garden trowel, paint stick, or something to mix the cement

5. *Dust mask or bandana to cover you mouth and nose.

6. Plastic to cover the wet cement if it is hot and dry outside

7. Pretty stones, ceramic tiles, marbles, seashells, or other decorative items

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What to do:

Stone Stamps Before you start get everything ready. If the design is complicated, lay it out before you start. If you are going to add words, place the letters in order and make sure you have enough room before you start.

There are a lot of different craft kits available that provide everything you need to make the stones. (See the kits on the right-hand side of the page.) These kits will save you a lot of time finding everything you need. You can reuse the molds, and use different decorative items to make them all look different. Some of the kits come with letter stamps that can be used over and over. You can also buy the letter stamps separately from AllCraftSupplies.com.

If you don't want to spend money on molds, you can make your own out of cardboard and hot melt glue. Here is a pattern for the six-sided stone. Press down hard with a pen when you are drawing the pattern on the cardboard so that the cardboard will fold on the lines easily. Fold up on all the lines and glue with hot melt glue. You might be able to use the molds more than once. You can also use plastic containers from the grocery store. Check out the deli department for different sandwich and vegetable tray containers. I was able to buy just the containers for just a few cents. If you don't want to use a mold, you can dig a hole in the ground, line it with small stones, and pour the cement directly into the holes.

Fill one bucket with water. Use another one to mix the cement. Use a bucket that doesn't have any bumps in the bottom to mix the cement. Make sure you use rubber or plastic gloves when handling the cement because it can cause skin irritation. ONLY ADULTS SHOULD MIX THE CEMENT! It tends to spatter when mixing so cover your skin with long sleeves and long pants. Keep children back when you are mixing. Where a dust mask or bandana when mixing. You don't want to breath in the dust. Have children wear gloves when decorating their stones.

Frog Stepping Stone

This frog stepping stone kit is great for young children because they don't work with the wet cement which can be irritating to the eyes and skin. The frog stepping stone is made first. When it is dry your child glues the mosaic pieces onto the of the top frog shape. An adult can then use the left over cement to fill in the cracks. AllCraftSupplies.com has a Mosaic Turtle Kit that is made in the same way.

Turtle Stepping Stone Craft Kit

#255989
Purchase this Craft Kit from AllCraftSupplies.com

Keep a bucket of clean water available in case the cement gets on your skin. It's a good idea to keep some eye wash close just in case, or better yet wear goggles. Make sure your children know to be careful when working with cement. If you are putting foot prints or hand prints into the cement, cover the skin with Vaseline beforehand, and wash your skin with soap and water immediately afterwards.

Stepping Stone Follow the direction on the package for mixing the cement. I used about 14 cups of cement to 3 1/2 to 4 cups of water. Start with a cup of water and gradually add the cement stirring as you go. Keep adding cement until it is the consistency of oatmeal. Do not breath in the dust.

Pour the cement into the mold. You want it to be about 2 inches deep. Gently pick up a side of the mold and tap it on the ground to get rid of the air bubbles. Wait until the water on the top is gone or until the cement leaves a lasting impression, then start adding your decorations. If the cement is drying too quickly and the top begins to crack when you place the stones, you can spray the top with a little water to keep it moist while you work. Smooth out any cracks with your fingers.

When you are finished cover your stones with plastic so that they don't dry too fast. This will keep them from cracking. Do not move the stones for at least 12 hours or longer. When they are completely dry, remove the cardboard or mold.

Comments:

We did stepping stones for a bridal shower and mixed the cement in large black garbage bags. We had the guests work in pairs, or threes, and take turns mixing. My daughter then used the same idea for a Vacation Bible School project at her church. (A hands-on activity should be just that. I don't like stuff that adults have to do for kids, then it's not their craft anymore.--just my opinion. ) They still wore plastic gloves even though their hands didn't come in contact with the wet cement as they were kneading the outside of the bags. But you have to use a bag that's heavy or they tear from the effort. We also sprayed the inside of the mold with cooking spray before filling. I don't know if it helped that much or not. They seemed to come out okay. Just thought I'd pass it on. Keep up your great site, Georgia

Paper Cup Flower Yard Decorations

What you will need: Different colors of paper or plastic cups from a party supply store, paint stir sticks (from hardware store), green acrylic paint, green fun foam, glue, and beads or other decorative items.

What to do:

1. Paint the stir stick green to match the fun foam and let it dry.

2. Cut the top half off a cup. Then cut slits in the cup 1/2" apart so that the slits reach all the way down to the bottom of the cup. Fold down the slits to flatten out the cup.

3. Cut the top 3/4 off the top of another cup and cut slits all the way around the cup 1 cm wide. Fold down the slits to flatten the cup. Glue the flattened orange cup on top of the flattened yellow cup. To make the flowers look different, you can vary the width of the slits, cut the edges at different angles or round off the edges. It is fun to experiment with different shapes and colors.

4. Glue the flower onto the top of the paint stir stick.

5. Cut leaf shapes from the green foam and glue them to the back of the stir stick.

6. To finish place glue in the center of the flower and fill with beads, pompoms, yarn, shiny paper, etc.

Sunflower Windsock

What you will need: Two small brown plastic plates (You can buy these at party supply stores.), yellow fun foam, double-sided tape, green plastic tablecloth (Party section of your local department store), glue, and string.

What to do:

1. Cut foam pieces into 3" by as-long-as-you-can-make-them strips. Draw a line 1/2" from one of the long edges.

2. Cut slits 1/2" apart all the way down the length of the foam strip stopping at the 1/2" line.

3. Stick double-sided tape all the way around the top edge of one of the plates. Carefully stick the uncut edge of the foam strip all the way around the edge of the plate. The slits will separate to make the petals of the flower.

4. Cut strips of green plastic about 4" wide and 36" long and glue them on one side of the plate over the foam petals.

5. Cut a piece of string about two feet long, fold it in half and tie the ends together. Glue the string to the opposite end of the green plastic strips.

5. To finish glue the other plate over the foam to cover the edge so that you have a plate on each side of the yellow petals.

Dove Wind Chimes for Your Garden Craft - This wind chime makes a pretty tinkling sound.

What you will need: decorative plastic curtain chain (Found at Wal-mart in their domestic department.), Computer CD, plastic milk carton, heavy duty thread, and a hot melt glue gun.
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What to do:

1. Print out the bird patterns (Large file or small file) and use them as templates to cut shapes from a plastic milk carton. Use one pattern twice so you have at least four bird shapes. Punch holes in the bird shapes.

2. Cut four, 9" - 12" lengths of plastic chain and glue them to one side of a computer CD. Tie the birds to the ends of the chains. Glue a string to the top of the CD to hang the wind chime.

Make Seed Packets and Start your own Seed Company - Here is a great project that not only takes creativity but will teach you a little about nature and business at the same time.

What you will need: Seeds, paper, paper glue, crayons or markers, and scissors.

What to do:

Buy some flower or vegetable seeds like sunflowers, marigolds, pumpkins or any other kind of plant with seeds that are easy to collect. Plant the seeds and let the plants mature. When your vegetables are mature and ready to eat, cut them open and remove the seeds. Place them on a paper towel to dry. If you planted flower seeds, wait for the flowers to die and the flower pods to dry out. Cut off the dried flowers and remove the seeds.
Print out the seed packet pattern and make copies. Cut out around the edge of the pattern. Fold down the edges and glue the bottom and sides of the packet closed.
Draw a picture on the front of the packet of the kinds of plants your seeds will produce.
Think of a name for your company and write it across the top of the packet.
Don't forget to write what is in the packet under or above your picture.
On the back of the packet write some directions on how, when, and where to plant the seeds.
Figure out how much you want to sell your seeds for and write the price on the packet.
Add your seeds to the packet and seal the top.
Now you are ready to go out and sell them.

"Plant a Little Kindness" plant marker -This little plant marker would look great in a painted pot filled with flowers.

What you will need: Large craft stick, green fun foam, red fun foam, permanent marker, thin black wire and glue.
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What to do: Cut out a leaf shape using the pattern provided from green fun foam and a red oval for the ladybug from red fun foam. Glue the leaf to the large craft stick. Use a permanent marker to draw spots and a head onto the ladybug body. Glue black wire onto to back of the ladybug for antennae. Glue the ladybug onto the leaf. Write "Plant a Little Kindness" on the leaf.

Bold Garden Crow - Are you trying to figure out what to do with those left over pickets? Here is an easy craft that takes less than an hour to finish. This cute little guy looks great above my sign saying, "No weeds allowed". Of course, my garden is full of weeds and crows.

What you will need: 1 - 3 1/2" picket cut to 24" long, 2 - 2" pickets or boards, small garden gloves found at craft stores, staple gun, yellow, black and white paint.

What to do:
1. Cut the 3 1/2" picket to make it 24" long. Single pickets are very cheap and can be found at Home Base or Home Depot. Cut the top to shape the head if you would like. I used the bottom side of the picket and cut two triangles out to form the head shape. If you don't have pickets any thin board will do.
2. Draw in a face with a pencil and paint the eyes, beak, and the body.
3. Cut the two smaller pickets to measure 13" each with the pointed end being the end of the crow's wings. Paint them black. When the paint is dry, staple them onto the body.
4. Fill the gloves part way up with sand to fill out the fingers. Paint the gloves to look like the crows talons. When they are dry, staple the talons onto the crow's body about 6" up from the bottom.
5. Place the crow on your fence in your garden. I had to use two screws to keep the crow from falling off.

Garden Crafts on The Resource Room

You can find more garden crafts on The Resource Room. The Resource Room is designed for Sunday School teachers and home school parents. All of the crafts on The Resource Room are biblically based . Most of the crafts go along with one of the Bible lessons found on The Resource Room. All the crafts were designed for preschool and elementary age children. All the crafts are original and inexpensive which are great for home school use and large groups such as Sunday school classes and vacation Bible school.

"Planting Seeds" Bible lesson - In this lesson children learn that just as God's words have been sown in their hearts, he wants them to sow seeds of love in other's hearts.

Seeds of Faith Seed packet craft - This seed packet is filled with "seeds of faith" -- seed shapes with Bible verses written on them.

Sun and Watering Can Plant Stakes - This craft goes along with the lesson "Planting Seeds" and the Bible verse from 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, " . . . We're just God's servants, each of us with special abilities . . . My work was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos' work was to water it, but it was God, not we, who made the garden grow in your hearts." The sun plant stake says, "Shine the light of Jesus." and the watering can says, "Water with the Living Waters."