Make Tree Bark Rubbings

paper (construction paper, butcher paper, any kind of paper you have)
crayon
masking tape

Place the paper over an area of tree bark and tape it in place with the
masking tape. Rub the crayon (holding it on it's side for maximum
coverage), over the paper. Dark colored crayons work best. Try
different kinds of trees for different textures. Use the rubbings as
giftwrap, or collect them in a notebook and identify from what type of
tree they came.

Keep a Tree Journal

Choose a tree close to where you live and let it be "your" tree. Keep
a notebook of observations about your tree. How does it change as
spring comes? Are there any animals or insects living on it?  Does it
loose any branches in a storm? Make a bark rubbing from your tree on
one of the notebook pages. Try measuring your tree to see how tall it
is. Have a friend help you by holding up a yardstick about 60 feet from
the tree.  Position yourself six feet farther behind them, and getting
close to the ground, look where the top of the tree comes to on your
yardstick. Mark that point. The tree will be about 10 times the height
marked on the yardstick.

Growing Plants:

Sprout some tree branches inside for an early spring

Gather tree branches from outside and place them in a container with
water. Be sure to give them fresh water every few days, (and you can
add a few drops of vinegar to the water to keep it from growing moldy
in your container). Give them about three weeks indoors and they will
sprout their leaves. Try pussy willow branches to have pussy willows
and birch trees to have bright green leaves.

Make New Plants From Cuttings

Choose a healthy 4" to 6" shoot, and cut it just below the spot where a
leaf meets the stem.  Strip the lower leaves from the stem and insert it
into a pot containing clean damp sand (or vermiculite or perlite).  Put in
a cool but light location.  Keep the sand moistened and within about 6
weeks the stem will have sent out roots.  You can then transplant the
cutting to a pot containing potting soil.  If the cutting wilts, put the pot in
a plastic bag (to increase humidity) until it rights itself.

Leaf cuttings are done in much the same way.  Cut the leaf close to the
stem at an angle.  Nestle this in some moist sand (this anchors it well).
Once the leaf has put out roots, it can be potted in regular potting soil.

Growing plants from pits:

Avocado pits:  peel the brown covering off of the pit and stick three
toothpicks into the pit.  Suspend it over a jar of water, fat end down.
Add more water as it evaporates, and the pit will soon send out roots,
followed by a green stem and leaves from its top.  Transplant it to a pot
of soil at this point, and pinch it back to keep it bushy and healthy.  You
can do the same thing with sweet potato.  Sweet potatoes are vining
plants.  Plant the pits of oranges, lemons, and other citrus fruits.  The
plants won't pear fruit, but they make nice houseplants.

Pineapple:  A pineapple makes a long-lived houseplant.  Let the cut
top dry on its side for about 5 days.  Place it in a shallow pot of moist
sand, buried so only the leaves show.  Place the pot in a warm, sunny
location and in about 2-3 months the top will have rooted.  You can
then re-pot it into regular potting soil.  The great thing about pineapple
is that after several years it will bear small pineapples of its own.

Creatures:

Hatch a batch of amphibian eggs:
In the spring check a pond for amphibian eggs.  Frogs' eggs are
bunched together in a clump; toads' eggs are generally arranged in
long strings.  You might even find salamander eggs, which are larger
than frogs' eggs but found in smaller bunches.  Bring only a few home
in your pail, along with plenty of pond water and some algae and pond
plants for the tadpoles to eat.  Don't mix eggs from different species.
They develop at different rates and may feed on each other.

With in a week or so, the frogs' eggs should grow and change into tiny
tadpoles.  Keep only one or two tadpoles, returning the others and any
unhatched eggs to the pond.  Keep a journal of the changes your
tadpole undergoes.  While the tadpole's tail is disappearing, it will not
eat, during this final stage is a good time to transfer your frog to an
aquarium with a sloping rock or a floating log, and a cover.  Frogs are
powerful jumpers.  You should now start thinking about returning your
frog to its natural habitat.  Adult frogs require live food, and a lot of it,
and while you could raise your own mealworms to feed your frog, you
have to decide whether you can take the time to properly care for your
frog friend.

Make a Bird bath

Take an up-turned trash can lid filled with a layer for pebbles to give
the birds firm footing.  The pebbles also weight the lid so that it won't
blow away.  Birds like a place to perch after bathing, so place the lid
near some brush or under a tree.  Put it on the ground, in an open area
so the birds feel safe.  Fill it with no more than 3 inches of water.  Then
sit back and watch the birds, you may even want to keep a journal of
the kind of birds you see.

Feeding the Birds

21/4 ounces of lard
mixed nuts
41/2 ounces total of any of these kitchen scraps:
-rolled oats
-left over cooked vegetables
-bird seed
-cooked rice
-bread crumbs
-grated cheese
yogurt container
scissors
mixing bowl
wooden spoon
needle--use a blunt-tipped darning needle
small saucepan
small twig
big pinecone

To make the bird pudding:
Mix the scraps together in the bowl.  Put some seed aside.  Ask an
adult to melt the lard in the saucepan over a low flame.  Pour the
melted lard over the mixture of scraps in the bowl, and stir everything
together with a wooden spoon.  Spoon the pudding mixture into the
yogurt container.  Push the twig into the pudding, then let the pudding
set until hard.  When the pudding has set, pull it out of the container by
the twig and roll it in bird seed.  Tie a piece of string to the twig.
 

Pinecone feeder:

Push bird pudding into the cracks between the open scales of a big
pinecone, then hang the pinecone from a piece of string.

Peanut kebab:

string
peanuts in their shells and any other nuts

Make holed in peanut shells and other nuts with a big needle.  Know
one end of a piece of string, then thread the nuts onto the string.

Coconut Bell:

Hang half a coconut upside down from a piece of string, and agile birds
will peck out all the coconut.  When the shell is empty, fill it with bird
pudding.

Scrap Bag:

You can make a very simple feeder for the birds from a fine-mesh fruit
bag (available at supermarkets).  Fill it with nuts or bird pudding, then
tie the top with a piece of string and hang it up.

Feeding Log:

You will need an adult to help you make this.  Ask him or her to drill
holes in the log and screw a hook in the top.  Fill the holes with bird
pudding and hang up the log.  Woodpeckers may come to peck out the
pudding.

Note:  Adult supervision and participation is required for this
activity.

Nature's own Wreath

When taking a walk through the woods, collect a basket of pinecones
and nuts.  When you get home, soak your findings in warm water for a
few minutes to loosen the dirt and resin.  While they dry, create the
base of your wreath by tracing a circle on a study piece of cardboard
(use a plate for a pattern).  Cut out the circle, then trace another circle,
2 to 3 inches smaller, on the cardboard.  Cut out the second circle,
then punch two holes at the top of the ring.  Arrange the pinecones on
the ring in a design.  Then attach them with craft glue, beginning with
the larger cones.  Fill in any spaces with tiny cones and nuts.  When
the glue dries, coat the wreath with polyurethane or spray paint (in a
well-ventilated area).  Thread a ribbon through the holes, then hang.  It
will keep forever.

Flower Press

You'll need:
heavy books
scissors
lots of white blotting paper

Open the book.  Cut a piece of paper the same size as the open book.
Fold paper in half, then open out.  Lay the blotting paper across the
book.  Arrange the plants and flowers flat on the right half of the paper,
with plenty of space between them.  Carefully fold the left side of the
blotting paper over the blotting paper.  Put some heavy books or
magazines on top of the book to weigh it down.  Let the plants dry for
at least four weeks.

Variation:
Instead of using a book and blotting paper, you can use an old phone
book.  The paper in the phone book acts as blotting paper.  When you
want to add more specimens, just go to a different part of the book and
add them.

What to do with the pressed flowers and leaves:

You can put them on cards, make book marks, or anything else your
imagination can come up with.  You will simply need rubber based glue
and cotton swabs and the paper you want to apply it to.  First arrange
the flowers and leaves the way you want them, then put a small dab of
glue on the back of the flower with the cotton swab and gently press in
place.  When the glue dries you will have a unique creation to use for a
gift or just for you.