Fall Boredom Buster: Nature Crafts

I don’t know about you, but my kids get bored all year round. Like, whining, fighting, make-me-want-to-pull-my-freakin-hair-out bored. Yet, for some reason, the only times of the year that people talk about keeping them occupied are during the summer and the winter.

What the cuss?! (Sorry, we just watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox this weekend and I just can’t stop). I mean, I guess it makes sense since summer and winter breaks are when they’re in our hair and non-stop bored the most. But right now I could really use some fall boredom busters. Like, stat.

I wrote a post last week for NY Metro Parents about a doing an easy DIY fall scavenger hunt with the kids. Aside from being adaptable to pretty much any situation, scavenger hunts are quick and simple ways to get the kids outside and distract them from anything they may be considering throwing a tantrum about.

Even better? You can bring the treasures they find inside (as long as they’re not wet and gross, of course) and let them go craft crazy.

Check out what we did…First, the girls and I hit the backyard with a list of treasures to find and some buckets to collect things in (if you’re in need of inspiration or possible variations, check out my post here). This part alone is an awesome way to get your crazies to run off some steam and explore. Your little hunt could last as long or as short as you’d like.

Hold on to the stuff they collect and when they need another distraction (like as soon as they finish eating that snack they need because scavenger hunts are exhausting), take out a bunch of random craft supplies like we did and let them go wild, mixing their findings with whatever art supplies you have on hand. Here’s what out little experiment looked like…

We went the go wild and let your imagination run away with you route. Ellie ended up trying to glue rocks and poms poms and anything else she got her little fingers on down to a piece of paper. Samantha decided to make a cute little creature (that pink pom pom is her fabulous purse, FYI. I hope she’s not taking cues from that hideous fur accessories trend I was just talking about ;)).

I’m all for letting the kids’ imaginations go wild from time to time and letting them come up with their own creations. Sometimes a specific craft is just what you need though. If you’re in the market for more specific nature crafts, I rounded up a few good ones:

• A DIY leaf art roundup from Handmade Charlotte
• Fall crafts roundup from Inner Child Fun
• Pinecone birds by Blueberry Junkie
• Fall collage by Happy Hooligans
• Nature crowns by maya*made
• Fall mobile by Red Ted Art

That should be enough to get you and your little animals started, right? If you end up doing any of these please, please, please send me a picture! Email it, tweet it, Instagram it, post it on my Facebook wall– I don’t care how you do it, but show me!

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