A homemade stepping stone for a personalized garden! (www.newsletter.schoolbox.com) Add a personalized touch to your garden with these great, crafty stepping stones! All you need is some quick drying cement—which is easier to work with than it may sound—and some objects from nature. Kids at the Barn love adding their handprints to their [...]
The sun is the source of most energy on earth, including energy from wind and waves. Plus it provides a natural source of vitamin D for our bodies. This activity introduces kids to the power of solar energy in an easy-to-understand way. They’ll learn how the energy of the sun can be used to heat [...]
Make art out of nature! (craftsbyamanda.com) Combine nature and art with these awesome nature mobiles! They can be hung inside for decoration, or on the porch so they can twirl in the breeze. Instead of objects from nature, you might also try this activity with recycled materials or things that might have otherwise [...]
Flower shaped recycled seed paper This activity is part arts and crafts and part gardening! At HealthBarn USA, we soak old newspaper, blend it into a pulp, mix it with seeds, and end up with cool, personalized paper shapes that can be planted directly into the garden. Kids love the idea of [...]
Eggshell planters sprouting small plants (17apart.com) Spring is all about planting! At the Barn, we’re getting our garden ready for summer fruits and veggies. It’s still too cold out to plant certain things, but you can get a head start while the weather is still warming up by growing seeds indoors in [...]
As spring approaches, kids are really excited to get back outdoors! One of my favorite activities for this time of year is to make nature crowns. Kids love exploring outside and collecting things to put in their crowns. When we do this activity HealthBarn USA, we love seeing the cool things that kids find in [...]
Colorful dream catchers to keep the nightmares away! (craftsbyamanda.com) Dream catchers are an American Indian tradition from the Ojibway (Chippewa) tribe. They are made by weaving a web of strings around a round frame and then are hung over the bed to keep away bad spirits and nightmares while you sleep. The legend [...]
Your kids may be too young for coffee, but they can definitely have fun playing with it! Using old coffee grounds, coffee, and some other kitchen basics, kids can create “fossils” for a mini archaeology lesson. Make sure to explain what real fossils are, and once the coffee ground fossils are dry, you might even [...]
At HealthBarn USA, one of my favorite nutrition games to play with the kids is called “Cereal Detective,” found in my book Appetite for Life Kids get to see first-hand how much sugar goes into their food—particularly their breakfast cereal. If you are trying to help your child make the switch from sugary cold cereals [...]
Kids making newspaper pots at HealthBarn USA! I bet you never guessed you could make a planting pot out of newspaper! There’s a great wooden gadget called the Paper Pot Maker that we use at the Barn for this activity, but you could also use any metal can. The basic idea is that [...]