Crafting Nature Bookmarks
How our family made crafty nature bookmarks using old paper, card, pressed flowers and illustrations.
Creative · Child-led · Crafty
A great way to let their creativity run wild.
We've always got loads of books on the go, and fight over the one bookmark we own, resorting to paper scraps to slide into the remaining books. Well no more my friend. We deserve beautiful hand-made bookmarks in our lives.
We'd been struggling with how to show off the array of pressed spring leaves we found earlier in the year, so this seemed like a great opportunity. (Along with a few flowers that had already come off plants because of course we're not picking flowers off plants in march when the minibeasts need them).
This craft is very versatile, you can swap out bits you don't have and replace them with bits you do. We used some brown card, paper from old books, illustrations from books (I feel like cutting up books is controversial, it was from a charity shop and the pictures are beautiful to use in crafts), old bits of interesting paper, and of course the selection of dried leaves, and a fair bit of modge podge.
I love parallel crafting with children. It reduces their anxiety to see it modelled to them and gives them a jumping off point to make it their own. But more importantly, it means that I get to fully own my own version, rather than hovering over Little Leopard's, making 'helpful' suggestions, but really, just annoying him.
We cut some of card into rectangle shapes. I experimented with a palm tree shape with one of mine. We also used gift tags as a base.
Then we experimented with sticking various paper onto it. I love the texture that I got with some old dressmaking paper. Little Leopard loved using the bird illustrations.
We weren't sure if the modge podge would be strong enough to hold down some of the thicker leaves, I thought we'd need to stick some contact paper over the monkey leaf monstera, but once it was all dried, everything stayed on beautifully, and the modge podge gave everything a beautiful sheen.
If you haven't got glue, then laminating the bookmarks, contact paper, or even large sellotape would work.
I love how differently all the bookmarks turned out. And I love that Little Leopard found a style that he loves.And I reaaally love that we get to use these crafts everyday rather than being something that gets shoved in a drawer and forgotten about.
I feel like there's lots of thoughtful ways this method could be used. On cards, gift tags, posters.
Drop me a message on facebook or instagram if you decide to make some nature bookmarks, and what direction you take them in.
Your Next Activity
If you found this fun, why not try one of our other nature activities
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If the weather is being kind (or if you're feeling particularly hardy) then why not try one of these Oxfordshire Nature Adventures. Or head here for more inspiration
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