Creative Crafts

A fulfilling and enriching way to celebrate the natural world is to capture it through a camera lens. You don’t need special equipment to do this, the camera on your phone will work perfectly.

• Head outdoors and take pictures of the things you find most exciting. It could be blooming flowers, moody skies, giant trees, fungi or small, furry creatures. In nature you can point your lens anywhere and it’ll land on something interesting.
• Once you’ve gone on a few adventures, use your pictures to create a photo diary. It’s a beautiful way to remember your wild journeys and can be a useful tool for quiet reflection.

If you prefer a bigger project, why not document the changing seasons in a scrapbook?

• You can populate each page with your photographs, as well as things you’ve found on nature walks. 
• You can add poems, reflections, field notes and sketches – it’s yours to express yourself in whatever way you want.

All these exercises encourage us to be more mindful of the world around us. They help us slow down and appreciate all of nature’s details, big and small. 

The natural world is a wonderful muse that inspires all kinds of creativity to bubble up inside us! Experience the joy of expressing yourself by making a piece of art with nature.

Choose a natural subject in your home, reflect on scenery that stimulates you, or craft something from scratch using natural objects as your materials and tools. You could:

• Print using leaves and pebbles.
• Paint your favourite natural landscape. 
• Sketch flowers, fruits and shells. 
• Make a collage, or create creatures, using natural items you’ve collected. 
• Sculpt natural shapes from clay.

While making art is a peaceful and pleasing way to spend time on your own, collaborating with others to create something new can also be incredibly rewarding.

When you’re done, put your piece on display and say thanks to nature for opening up your imagination.  

Bird-watching breeds a truly relaxed mind. Time flies while watching a robin hunt for worms, a wagtail on the wing or a group of sparrows happily hopping about. The trick is getting them to come to you. To encourage feathered friends into your garden, or another green space, you need to provide them with the things they need like food, shelter and water. Try these…  

Make your own fat balls

Combine some bird-friendly kitchen scraps to serve up an energy-giving treat. Mix leftovers like cheese, oats, small pieces of fruit and crushed peanuts with melted lard or suet. Leave your concoction to set in the fridge and voila! A five-star meal for birds. It’s best to avoid making and putting these out in the summer, as the hot weather can make these go off faster.

Build a bird box

If you’re handy with tools, why not give birds a place to call home? Providing them with a place to nest could lead to getting chirpy new neighbours!

Create a bird bath

Give birds a nice place to wash and rehydrate, especially in warm weather. A shallow dish, empty pot, weather-proof tray or even an old pan can be the perfect thing – just make sure it’s not so deep that birds can’t get out. Set it up in a safe, sheltered spot where birds can escape to the bushes if any predators appear. 

Bug hotels are a paradise for insects and other invertebrates, like bumblebees, ladybirds, spiders and beetles. They’re easy to make, look great, and provide all-important shelter for our bug buddies throughout the seasons. They’ll also attract lots of wonderful new wildlife into your garden.

Want to make a creepy-crawly sanctuary? Here’s how:

• Grab any sticks, logs or old bits of wood you have lying around. If you don’t have any to hand, collect some on your next park or countryside stroll. Be careful with sharp edges and wear gloves to avoid splinters.
• Find a quiet corner of your garden – a wild, undisturbed spot is best.
• Arrange the wood in a pile, leaving plenty of gaps and hidey-holes for little creatures to explore.
• Add a few dead leaves and you’re done! Now you can relax and let nature do its thing.

If you’ve really got the bug, why not help turn your whole community into a nature-rich reserve? Share this know-how with your neighbours so even more of our itsy-bitsy insect friends can thrive!

Nature’s creations are so beautiful they can uplift us just by being there. Discover how extraordinarily intricate its designs really are by pressing leaves and flowers. It’s a slow, gentle and very rewarding process.

Choose your subjects

These could be things you’ve grown at home, things from the garden, or things you’ve found outdoors. Remember: don’t pick anything that’s still growing.

Time to press!

1. Find a few heavy books you won’t need for a while. Choose the biggest one and open it up in the middle.
2. Lay a few sheets of paper towel on the open page and arrange your flowers on top. 
3. Cover your flowers with a bit more paper towel, then carefully close the book. 
4. Keeping it as flat as possible, move your press to a warm, dry spot and lay some more heavy things on top.

After a couple of weeks, your amazing new natural mementos will be ready to enjoy!

Display them together in a book, or frame them in your home as a reminder of your artistic efforts. They’re wonderful things to reflect on when you need a moment of calm.

Like humans, hedgehogs need safe places to rest, hibernate and raise their hoglets in. If you’ve got space in your garden to spare, creating a haven for our spiny friends is a fantastic way to use it.

It’s so satisfying to support a species like this, especially one that’s becoming rarer. As a bonus, you’ll bring even more nature to your door and might even get a glimpse of these cute nocturnal creatures.

Hedgehog homes can be made or bought, but making your garden welcoming is step number one. Here’s how:

• Provide plenty of ground coverage with lots of native bushy plants.
• Use twigs and logs to set up some wild, secluded spots for hedgehogs to hide in.
• Create some shelters using upside-down planters or crates, with dry leaves inside.
• Put out some hedgehog-friendly food and drink – water, worms and cat food are good. PLEASE avoid bread and especially milk, as our spiky friends are lactose intolerant! Their dinnertime is around dusk. 
• Leave small gaps in your boundary wall or create mini ramps. Hedgehogs love to travel between gardens, so this will help them get around easily.

Pass all this onto your neighbours and, before you know it, you might be responsible for creating a Hedgehog Superhighway!