Get Ready for Summer: Outdoor Projects for Kids

After being cooped up indoors, for most of the winter months, your kids and you will be glad to embark on some outdoor activities. Arts and craft projects are always popular with children. Stock up on supplies, during the winter, so you will be ready for outdoor fun when that first nice spring day arrives. Reserve some of these ideas for birthday parties, slumber parties or play date activities. Crafts double as a party favor to take home.

Painted Rocks

Start the rock painting project by going on a rock hunt. Take kids out to the country and search for rocks. Make sure you have permission to be on the property. Take along a bucket to collect the rocks. Lay down and old sheet over the driveway or on the lawn. Give each child a small plastic bucket with three colors of acrylic paint, paint brushes, markers and containers of water. Spread the found rocks in the center of the sheet and let the kids sit on the outlying area. Suggest they paint faces, animals butterflies or just designs on the rocks. Tip: save up your empty plastic vitamin bottles for water containers. They can be filled, capped and set in each child's bucket without worry of spilling.

When the painted rocks are dry, the adult should set them out on newspaper and give each rock a spray or two of clear art sealer (found at the craft store). Turn the rocks over and spray them again. This will not only seal the paint to the rock, but enhance the brightness of the colors.

Garden Stepping Stones

Set up a workspace outdoors, to keep the mess out of the house. Give each child a large cake pan that has been sprayed with cooking oil. Find extras at the Good Will Store or other reuse stores. Have a mixture of items they can add to the top of their stepping stone, such as shells, marbles, metal washers or small flat tiles.

For each stepping stone, mix together (in a bucket):

*2 cups flower
*2 cups sand
*1 cup white craft glue
*2 cups water.

Pour the mixture into their pans and let them create a stepping stone masterpiece. Let the stepping stones dry for at least three days. They should come out of the baking pans easily. Spray the stones with an exterior clear sealer, with several coats on the top and bottom. Let them dry overnight. After deciding on the path location, have each child drop their artwork into the ground where you have dug an indentation.

Bird Feeder

Use a large (2 liter) recycled pop bottle for the base of the bird feeder. Unscrew the cap from the pop bottle. Wrap a piece of wire around the bottle, just under the screw indentations, leaving enough wire on each side to tie to a tree branch. Screw the cap back on the bottle. This will keep the wire secure. Cut a large circle on one side of the bottle, 5 inches from the bottom. Take the bird seed and the feeder out to the tree where it will be hanging. Fill the bottle up to the 5 inch mark of the open hole. Undoubtedly, bird seed will be spilt as it is poured into the bottle, leaving see beneath the tree. Bird sightings on the ground will be enjoyed as they pick up the spilled seed. Purchas a picture book that shows different birds, their names and information. When birds appear at the bird feeder, go through the book with your children to learn about their new feathered friends.