Natural Orchestra

• Talk about the wonderful sounds you hear while in a natural setting. While on this subject, encourage kids to think about natural objects to use to make unusual music. Hunt for objects to blow through, rub, or clash together to make noise. Examples of natural objects include wide blades of grass, sticks, nuts, large rocks, leaves and small pebbles. After each child finds something suitable, decide on a well-known tune and play the song with the natural instruments. Give each child a turn to choose a tune to play, if desired.
  
  

Sitting Mat

• Sitting around a campfire can be hard on the backside, even for youngsters. Make a sturdy and weatherproof sitting mat out of wallpaper samples (from a wallpaper sample book, approximately 20 inches by 20 inches), old newspapers, thin nylon cord, a heavy-duty needle (with a large eye) and a scissors.
  
  Provide each child with two wallpaper samples and give each child a stack of old newspapers approximately 1 inch thick. Sandwich the newspapers between the wallpaper samples and make all of the edges and corners even. Thread the needle with a length of nylon cord and begin to whip stitch the edges of the wallpaper samples to enclose the newspapers and finish the edges. Sew in this fashion around all four sides, tie a knot and trim off any excess cord.
  
  

Flower Shirts

• Show kids how colorful flowers really are with a fun T-shirt project. Gather a T-shirt, colorful flowers, a hammer, a scissors, paper towels and plastic wrap. Cut the stems from the flowers. Reserve the blooms and discard the stems.
  
  Place the T-shirts onto a flat work surface and slip several layers of paper towel between the front and back layers of the shirts. Place the flower blooms onto the T-shirts in whatever pattern or design you choose and spread a layer of plastic wrap over the flowers. Pound the flowers with the hammer until they are flat. Remove the plastic wrap and carefully peel off any petals that are still sticking to the fabric. Admire the beautifully colored T-shirts and talk about how lovely the natural colors of flowers are. Set the flower colors permanently in the T-shirts by soaking them in a mixture of warm water and 2 tbsp. of regular salt for approximately 20-30 minutes.