Find something natural from your garden, put it on a flat surface and use your chalk to turn it into an animal.

There are two options for setting up your wood loom – you can either drill a series of holes in your wood or hammer in a series of small nails.
Obviously care should be taken when doing this and depending on the age of the child should be well supervised or done by an adult.

Then all you need to do is take some wool or string and start weaving patterns. If you are using holes, it is really helpful to have a small stick to help poke the wool through.

Try different amounts of holes/nails, alternating colours of wool and see what you can come up with.

If you give this a try, it would be great to see pictures of what you create

Put the leaf under the paper and rub your crayon lightly over the top.

Why not try a few different types of leaves and making some patterns.

Post up some pictures of your art work- it would be great to see what you come up with.

When you get home you can search the internet with your photo clues to try and identify the trees you have seen.
A google search for ‘tree identification’ will give you some good options and the Woodland Trust have a great free tree identifying app you can find in the App Store or on their website.

Step 1 –
Lay the two ropes so they overlap.
Wrap one rope around the other and back on itself.
Wrap it around both ropes two full turns.
Poke the end through the knot (against the other rope) and pull tight.

Step 2 –
Repeat step one with the other rope.

Step 3 –
Once both knots are done pull both ropes away from each other so the knots but up against each other to complete the Double Fisherman’s knot.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures.

Take turns to build the highest tower in two minutes.
Mark off the height of your tower on a long stick and see if someone else can beat it.

Use a pen to colour a couple of the lines on the palm of your hand.
Now you need to look for your tree twin – find a branch or plant that matches the lines on your hand.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures.

Let us know if you give this a try and post up some pictures.

Find somewhere flat and smooth to place your item- we used our outdoor table. Place your item (we used a dinosaur) in a position where it casts a good shadow.
All you need to do now is fill the shadow with natural materials such as torn up leaves, then when you remove your item you should have a great natural art picture.

Let us know how you get on and it would be great to see what pictures you create

Step 1-
Lay the left hand rope over the right and loop it round.

Step 2-
Do the same again but this time lay the right hand rope over the left and loop it round.

Pull tight and your done.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures of your efforts.

What you need-
A sewing needle
A magnet (a fridge magnet is fine but the stronger the better)
A leaf
A tub of water

Take your needle and run the magnet along it from the eye to the point. You will need to do this several times, weaker magnets will need more.
Place it on your leaf and float it on the water.
The point of your needle should now point North.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures.

Please remember to always replace rocks/logs etc back where you found them to preserve the bugs habitat.

Let us know how you get on and what you find.

Step 1 –
Find some fresh nettles and harvest the leaves. A pair of gardening gloves are ideal for this to avoid getting stung.
You are trying to get the leaves with as little stem as you can- about a cup full is ideal.

Step 2 –
Put them in a pan of water and heat – ideally they want to be kept just below the boil for a few minutes.

Step 3 –
Pour the liquid through a strainer to pull out all the bits of nettle.
Drink.
While being very good for you, nettle tea is not to everyone’s taste. You can always sweeten it up with a spoon of sugar or honey.

Give it a go and let us know how you get on.

Loop the rope around an object.
Loop the end of the rope around the main rope and back on itself – then wrap it around itself (a minimum of three times).
Pull tight.

The more you put pressure on the rope the more it will grip, therefore to release the knot simply release the pressure on the rope and it will be easy to untie.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures of your knots on our Facebook page.

Step 1 –
Find a long bendable stick, bend it into a circle and tie it together.

Step 2 –
Take a long piece of string or wool and tie one end to your stick.
Leave a small loop of string inside your hoop and then wrap it around the stick. Leave another loop and then wrap around the stick- keep going like this until you have gone all the way round the stick.
You then go around the circle again, but this time you thread the string through the loops you created on your first go round the stick.
When you have gone all the way round, go around again but this time threading through the loops created last time around.
Keep going round and around like this until you have a small circle in the middle of your dream catcher, then tie off the string.
Hopefully these instructions will make more sense when you look at the pictures.

Step 3 –
Decorate your dream catcher how ever you want.
We did things like hanging stones from string off the bottom and putting flowers and leaves on.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures on our Twitter or Facebook pages.

You get all kinds of little creatures in your garden at night. This easy trap is a great way to get a closer look.

Step 1 –
It’s very important to check the weather forecast and only do this activity when it is going to be a dry night. If it is due to rain, the trap will fill with water and drown any insects caught inside.
All our activities are to interact with nature, not harm it.

Step 2 –
Dig a small hole in your garden, just big enough for your container.
Place it in so that the top is level with the ground. Sprinkle a small amount of dirt/leaves in the bottom and pack around the top of the container with dirt so that there is no gaps to the surrounding surface.

Step 3 –
Prop the large flat stone over the top of the container using the four small stones as legs, making sure there is enough gap for creatures to fit through.

Step 4 –
Leave it over night and check it in the morning.
We tipped it out onto a white sheet of paper to make it easier to see what was in it.

Step 5 –
Make sure you then remove the trap. If you leave it in and forget about it, insects will fall in and not be able to get out.

We managed to find a millipede, two woodlice and an ant.

Have a go and let us know how you get on and what you find.

We’ve included some photos as a bit of a challenge for you to look out for –
the first picture is an easy one – Great Tit – these are extremely common in our garden and we get many of them on our birdfeeder every day.
the second picture is a Long Tailed Tit, no where near as common, however we do get them in our garden but this one will be trickier to spot.
the final picture is a Buzzard – you probably won’t see one land in your garden, but they are a very common bird of prey to see gliding overhead (one of the most common bird of pray to see in the UK)

It would be great to hear what species you spot – let us know on our Facebook or Twitter pages.

We made a board carved on an old tree stump, but you could easily mark one out from sticks or chalk one on the ground.

Let us know if you give it a go & post some pictures on our Facebook page.

With the sunny weather lately, it makes it a great time to try out a bit of navigation using only a watch.
All you need to do is hold the watch flat and point the hour hand at the sun.
Once you have your hour hand pointing at the sun, the line directly between your hour hand and the twelve o’clock position will point south and from this you can work out the direction of north which is the opposite direction.

It’s possible to do this from a digital watch – all you need to do is draw a watch face on a piece of paper (accurate to the time on your digital watch) then use the same method as above using your drawing instead of an analogue watch.

Let us know how you get on.

If you can, find a stick with a ‘v’ shape in it to use as your frame.
You then tie off a piece of wool or string to the base of the v. Wind the wool around each branch of the v in turn all the way to the end of the stick and tie it off (try and make it reasonably tight as this will make weaving easier).

Now your loom is done start weaving between the string with whatever natural materials you can find in your garden.

If you want to take it a bit further, try experimenting with different shaped looms.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures.

If you give it a go, let us know how you get on and post a picture of your art on our Facebook page.

Step 1-
Make your ‘hoops’ – in this case we are going to use triangles, because they are easier to make.
Trim three sticks to a similar length – the size is up to you. The bigger you make the hoops, the easier the game will be.
Lay the sticks in a triangle and tie them together using the square lashing we learnt on Day 1.

Step 2 –
Stick a long stick in the ground to us as a target and you are ready to go.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures on our Facebook page.

Step 1 –
Scoop some peanut butter or lard into a bowl pour in some bird seed and mix together. If you have no peanut butter or lard, you can just use dry bird seed.

Step 2 –
Cut the apple in half and use the spoon to carefully scoop out some of the apple to create a bowl – careful not cut through the skin. (If you have no apples you can just use a empty toilet roll cut in half – see pictures)

Step 3 –
Carefully poke the four sticks through the half apple (about halfway down) so that they form a cross through the apple.

Step 4 –
Scoop your seed mixture into the hollow you have made in the apple half.

Step 5 –
Cut four lengths of string and tie one to each end of the sticks (a clove hitch, which we learnt the first week, is ideal for this).
Tie all four lengths together and it is ready to hang.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures on our Facebook page.

No written instructions for this one – follow the numbers on the pictures.
After tying the first ‘8’ shape, loop the rope around something before moving on to the next part, where you simply follow the rope back on it’s self.
When you are done, all the knot should be doubled up – if there is any single rope in there, something has gone wrong.

Any questions, let us know – as always let us know how you get on and post some pictures on our Facebook page.

Step 1-
Take a length of string and tie one end to one end of the stick and the other to the other end of the stick. I cut a small notch into the stick to hold the string in place, but this is optional.
The clove hitch we learnt on day 2 is ideal for this.
Then find somewhere to hang this from the stick- this will make the rest of the process easier than having it flat on the ground.

Step 2 –
Cut six or eight equal lengths of string- about an arms length will be fine. (You can use more lengths than eight if you want your hammock wider, but make sure there is an even number).
Tie one end of each of the strings to the stick with a small gap between them (see pictures) – again the clove hitch from day 2 is ideal.

Step 3 –
Take the two first strings, leave about four fingers worth of space and tie together. Then take the next two strings and do the same, continue for the whole row.
After you have done a row, start back at the beginning- this time miss the first string and tie the next two strings and continue.
Keep going in rows, alternating which string you start on.

Step 4-
When you are happy with the length of your hammock, tie the end of each string to another stick and cut off any excess.
Finally tie another string to the stick at each end to make a hanger for this stick (the same as we did for the first stick in step 1).

Hang it up, put a soft toy in it and hope it turns out better than ours did!

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures.

You’ll need to squeeze the clay or mud a lot to get it soft and usable – you can also soak it in warm water to help.
Then find a tree or stick to put your clay/mud on and use your imagination to create a scary tree monster.
Use natural materials like twigs and leaves from your garden to decorate.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures on our Facebook page.

With many people locked down in their homes and less cars on the road, this makes conditions great for this activity and hearing some natural sounds.

Step 1- draw a small picture of yourself in the middle of your paper.

Step 2 – sit quietly in your garden for half an hour and listen carefully.

Every time you hear a noise (must hear it not just see it) draw it on your paper in the direction you can hear it. For example if you hear a bird to your left, draw a small picture of a bird on the left side of the paper. If you hear a car behind you, draw a car on the bottom of your paper.
If the sound is moving draw an arrow to show the direction of the sound.

At the end of the half hour you should have a map of the sounds in your garden.

Let us know how you get on and post a picture of your map on our Facebook page.

No instructions for this one- just go where your imagination takes you.
The idea is to build a mini world for your toy, we went for a house with a leaf roof, ladder, fence etc- but it would be great to see what you come up with.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures on our Facebook page.

Step 1 – make your picture frame.
You can either, simply lay out your four sticks on the ground in a square or you can fasten the corners together using the square lashing that we learned on Day 1.

Step two- use a variety of natural materials you can find in your garden to create pictures, patterns, story boards.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures of your art on our Facebook page.

No steps to this one as it’s all about figuring it out for yourself.
Using only natural materials and string, try and construct a raft capable of carrying your toy on your tub of water.
Keep trying when things don’t go well, try different designs, different size toys.

Crafts such as this are excellent activities to draw out a child’s creative side – the fact that the raft is unlikely to work the first time really aids the child’s resilience as they work through the problem, adapting the design and trying again.

Have a go and let us know how you did on our Facebook page.

Step one – look around your garden for leaves, plants, weeds, flower petals of a variety of colours.

Step two- put your piece of wood on the floor, put one of your foraged items (etc a leaf) on the wood and cover it with the cloth.

Step three- being careful not to get your fingers in the way, hit the cloth with your hammer/mallet where it covers your item. Hopefully hitting the item will crush it, releasing moisture and the pigment will colour your cloth.

Step four- try using different plants, mud etc to create a picture or pattern.
Try using different techniques to bash your item – other than hammering you can use different textured twigs as rollers.

Let us know how you get on and post some pictures on our Facebook page.

What you need-
Natural materials- leaves, twigs, branches or anything you can find in your garden.
A cup of water.
A soft toy or action figure.

There are a few different designs you can use, but it’s best to try and make whatever works for you.
You need to think about things such as wind proofing, waterproofing and making it stable and big enough for your toy.

Step one-
Build a frame from twigs long and thick enough to support the weight of the other materials you are going to pile on top.
At this stage, make sure it is big enough for your toy as it will be difficult to change this later.
Try and only natural materials you find in your garden, but you may need to tie some sticks together to hold your frame together.

Step 2-
You need to make the walls/roof of your shelter thick enough so that when you put leaves on for waterproofing they don’t just drop through.
To do this you need to build up the walls with thinner sticks, if can manage to weave some into a cross pattern it will help hold it together.

Step 3-
Water and wind proofing.
To do this simply place or weave leaves or grass onto the shelter – as thick as you can get it.

Step 4-
The test.
Put your toy into your shelter and pour the cup of water over the top.
See how well it works and if you’re toy stays dry.

Let us know how you get on and post your pictures on our Facebook page.

The clove hitch is a great knot and will come in handy for some of our future crafts over the coming weeks.

There are two ways you can do this knot- attaching it directly to a stick or making the knot and poking a stick through it.

Method 1 –
Lay a piece of rope over the stick.
Loop it round the stick and over itself to make a cross.
Loop it round again and thread the end through the cross.
Pull tight.

Method 2 –
Hold the rope in two hands.
Make a loop by folding the rope in your right hand over the left.
Then make another loop in the same way further down the rope on the right.
Place the first loop over the second.
Poke a stick through both loops and pull it tight.

Let us know how you got on and post some pictures of your efforts on our Facebook page.
Any questions or advice – let us know.

A few sticks
Some scissors
Some lengths of wool (or you can use string if necessary, but wool makes it a bit more colourful).

As with all these crafts, this is only the way we have done it – so use this as a guide and feel free to vary it however you wish.

Step 1 – cut or snap some twigs into two short lengths. And remove all leaves.

Step 2 – tie the two pieces of wood together to form a cross.
You can do this however you like, but we have used a variety of square lashing.
If you want to use a square lashing, start by attaching one end of a piece of string or wool to one of the sticks using any type of knot you like (in the photos we have used a clove hitch).
Next loop the string over the top stick then under the bottom stick, then back over the top and continue altering sides. After a few of these wrap the string between the two sticks a couple of times to tighten the knot and tie it off to one of the sticks.
This ties the sticks nice and secure, but tie them together however works for you.

Step 3 – start to create your design.
Tie one end of a length of wool to one of the sticks, as close to the middle of the cross as possible. Then start to work the string around each of the four points of the cross in turn, starting in the middle and working out.
Again do this how you wish but try and do it in a consistent way – for example we did it in the photos by going over the stick and looping it round, over the next stick and loop it round, over the next stick and loop it round and so on.

Step 4 – get creative.
From this point on do it however you wish to create a nice pattern.
When one piece of wool runs out tie another on of a different colour and keep going.
You could alternate the way you loop the wool – i.e. you could start by going over the stick then loop it round then later start going under the stick and loop it round to vary the design.

Step 5 – when you are happy you have finished, tie off the end of the wool to one of the sticks, leaving enough tail to hang it up.

No two will look alike, and allowing kids to try and go as much as possible themselves boosts resilience and helps with dexterity.
Have a go, ask any questions and post a picture of your craft on our Facebook page.