Nature Walk Placemat

My little folks and I took advantage of a break in the storms on Sunday and went for a little nature hunt.  Well, Sarah and I hunted.  

Will smacked Nature with a stick.

I got the idea from some clear plastic creation I saw involving paper flowers and glitter and stuff.  Since my sidekicks are always handing me rocks, sticks, flowers, weeds, garbage, and any other flotsam and jetsam they come across whenever we step outside, I thought they'd be naturals at collecting stuff for this little project.

Sarah's favorites were flowers and leaves, "wishing flowers" (dandelions) making the top of her list.  Will gathered gravel, sticks, and mushrooms.  

The honeysuckles are my favorite. 

Once we were done with our collecting, I cut four pieces of clear contact paper, roughly the size of a place mat.  I laid them out, sticky-side-up, and let the kids arrange their treasures on them and flatten them out. 

The next part was tricky, since I had to stick the other piece of contact paper on top of the first one, sandwiching the collected items in the middle. 

I smoothed it out as best I could, and then folded duct tape over all four edges.  

They turned out "rustic" (read: lumpy), but it was kind of cool motivation to get out and really take a look around us at all this SPRING happening right now.