- Author: Maria X. Isip-Bautista
Our family's excitement for the spring planting season is growing daily. The kids are a great help at this time of year- selecting what to grow in the veggie garden, picking varieties of flowers to create a rainbow of color for our bees, and sowing seeds to plant over the next couple of months. Being involved in the planning makes them all the more likely to actually want to harvest and eat what we've grown!
Along with all this planning work, we still try and carve out some time to complete a crafty project or two. This week the kiddos really enjoyed creating their very own decorative “garden stones.” Here's what we did-
Material:
- Plastic container, paint stick, and gloves for mixing, plus measuring cup for water.
- Stone Craft Mix or Plaster of Paris (available at craft stores)
- Aluminum pie tins/cookie cutters for molding/shaping your stone, stone stamps or popsicle sticks for carving/writing
-Lots of fun decorations- seashells, dried flowers/leaves, feathers, beans/seeds, glass marbles/stones/pieces of tile, small figurines, glitter, anything fairly flat and fun you can think of!
-Trash bags, newspaper, paper towels to line workspace and for cleanup
Procedure:
-Prep- Cover work area with trash bags/newspaper for easy clean-up. Lay out decorations for kids to choose from. Prepare Stone Craft Mix and water for mixing, but don't mix yet!
-Layout- Allow kids to choose decorations they'd like to use and actually lay them out in the design they want on their stone. The Stone Craft Mix dries quickly, so it's important to prep as much as possible ahead of time!
-Mix and form- Using gloves, slowly stir in water to the Craft Mix as directed on package. Working quickly, pour mix out onto a paper towel or onto plastic (garbage bag-lined) surface and use gloved hands to form into desired shape. You can also use pie tin as a mold or cookie cutters to make smaller shapes (these would be great to create plant markers for the garden).
-Decorate!- Again, working quickly, help kids add their decorations to their stone.
-Dry- Allow to dry up to two days undisturbed in a cool, dry place.
Lastly, find a special place to display these in the garden! These “stones” won't be durable enough to step on or withstand extreme wear. You can make actual step stones for the garden using a similar procedure with quick drying concrete, but you'd need to take much greater precautions with proper protective gear, ventilation, etc.
Enjoy!