Handicrafts with natural materials in summer – have fun with these ideas despite rainy weather!

Autumn is known for everyone, with its chestnuts, acorns, colorful leaves and other things, offering enough material for handicrafts. But anyone who thinks that other seasons have nothing to offer is very wrong. Thanks to the many meadow flowers, there are also numerous opportunities for creative handicrafts in summer. For handicrafts with natural materials in summer, we have collected some great ideas that you can also implement together with children. Should it rain in the coming days? Then you can quickly collect the necessary materials to pass the time even in bad weather. Create colorful and beautiful decorations and treat yourself to an exciting and fun afternoon of handicrafts!

Handicrafts with natural material in summer – weaving with flowers and plants

Admit it, you will be captivated by these beautiful specimens! This is an extremely simple idea for doing handicrafts with natural materials in the summer that you can even try out with small children. All you need is a frame or a base that you can string with string and then arrange flowers and parts of plants in between. You have two options for this:

• Use sticks to tie a frame.
• Use cardboard.

Idea with cardboard

In both cases, you can of course choose the size yourself and thus adapt the idea of ​​tinkering with natural material in summer to your ideas. If you are using cardboard, cut it several times on two opposite sides. Then, take string, tie a knot on its end, and poke the end through the first incision. The knot should be on the back. Stretch the cord up to the opposite slot and then on the back to the next, below the first. Continue like this until all of the cardboard is covered. You are also welcome to change the colors of the cord. This variant is ideal for smaller children.

Frame made of sticks for handicrafts with natural material in summer

You also need string for the variant with sticks. The perfect way to do handicrafts with wood in summer! Place two sticks together at right angles, and then tie the string around both sticks in a cross shape to tie them together. Keep doing this until you get a square frame. Then stretch the cord from one side to the other here as well. It is important that the cord is stretched twice, i.e. once from the front and once from the back, so that you can clamp the plants in between.

Homemade natural loom, decorated with flowers and leaves

And then the even more fun can begin – you can create beautiful arrangements by clamping flowers, leaves and any other plant part. Weather permitting, just take a walk and collect flowers, grasses and leaves. If the idea of ​​doing handicrafts with natural materials in summer is for a rainy day, you can get artificial flowers instead.

Colorful suncatcher

Fresh and colorful flowers also adorn this homemade decoration, which the little ones will particularly enjoy. By the way, this idea of ​​doing handicrafts with natural materials in summer would also be ideal for kindergarten! The weather outside doesn’t play along and you cannot go collecting flowers? Then use artificial flowers or get dried flowers! You need:

• Popsicle sticks
• Acrylic or other craft paints
• paint brush
• Cling film or self-adhesive film
• Glue
• yarn
• Plant parts

Suncatcher tinker with natural material in summer – this is how it works:

Put a mat on the table and let the children paint the popsicle sticks in any color. Then let them dry on the mat. Alternatively, you could buy the same colored stems. Glue four of them together in a square. You need two such frames per Suncatcher. Apply glue to one of the frames and stretch a piece of foil over it (with self-adhesive foil, the adhesive side is up). Then distribute the plant parts as you like. If you are satisfied with the arrangement, seal the whole thing with another layer of foil (adhesive side down, if self-adhesive).

Now glue a piece of yarn to one of the sides so that you can hang up the Suncatcher later (you can then cover the glue point with an ice cream stick and it will not be visible). Glue the other frame at the same height as the first and cut off the excess film on the sides. Now you can hang up the Suncatcher. Isn’t it a real eye catcher? Especially in groups, the suncatchers will look very pretty with their bright colors.

tip: Instead of using popsicle sticks for the frame, you can cut a frame out of cardboard. Or how about sticks that you can paint as you like (see below)?

Handicrafts with natural materials in summer – colorful sticks

So simple and yet so beautiful: even the smallest can make such colorful sticks themselves. The colored sticks (magic wands?) Can be designed in the most beautiful colors. And not only that: You are welcome to combine the colors with yarn or other natural materials such as flowers, leaves, grass or even feathers. Since the theme is “summer”, you could also use driftwood instead of the usual ones from the forest or park. But of course you can decide for yourself. Otherwise, you can be as creative as you want to do handicrafts with natural materials in the summer.

Handicrafts with natural materials in summer – figures with shells

It’s raining and somehow the great summer mood is gone? You can change that as quickly as possible by taking the seashells from your last vacation out of the closet (or ordering them) and then painting them and transforming them into cute figures – summer motifs are of course best suited for handicrafts with natural materials in summer. Fish, crabs (the legs can be made from pipe cleaners or twigs), ladybugs, and turtles are just a few of the options.

Simply paint the shells with acrylic paint. Then you can add googly eyes and, if necessary, other elements for fins, legs, etc. The finished decorations can adorn side tables, bowls, flower pots and even flower beds and are also very suitable as gifts. Incidentally, empty snail shells can also be painted in bright colors.

Make a crown out of leaves yourself

Which girl doesn’t like to play princess? But our little boys are also enthusiastic about the idea of ​​wearing a crown like a mighty king. Our next idea of ​​doing handicrafts with natural materials in summer will look really good! Make a great crown out of simple leaves and let the children’s role-play games begin!

• large sheets (if possible in two different colors / nuances)
• scissors
• good craft glue
• Clips, clips, or paper clips

Cut a square out of one of the leaves. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can then use this square as a template to cut out more squares of the same color from the other leaves. Depending on the desired size of the crown, you will need around 9 to 10 pieces. Then use them to cut 4 to 5 pieces out of the other leaf color as well.

Now you need to fold these squares, which, as you know, is not that easy with leaves. This is why you need the brackets too. So take two green squares and fold them diagonally to make triangles. But don’t fold them so much that they tear at the crease. Then you still need a yellow triangle. Push two of the pointed corners of the green triangles into each other so that they overlap, after which you place the yellow sheet in between. Now apply glue here and there to glue all three elements together and fix them with clamps until the glue dries.

Now continue with the remaining leaf squares until you have reached the desired length. In between, you can always check whether the crown would fit in the length achieved. Then glue the ends of the jagged leaf snake together and as soon as everything is well dried, the natural crown can be used. This idea of ​​doing handicrafts with natural material in summer is well suited for all occasions, but also as a pastime without a reason. And you could also try them out with colorful foliage leaves in the fall!

Crown of branches

Or how about branches made of leaves instead of leaves? You can not only make such a pretty crown in summer. Branches can of course also be found during the other seasons. In addition, you need the following things to tinker the crown with natural material in summer:

• 1 strip of muslin (slightly longer than the child’s head to be able to tie it; in the example 100 cm long and 10 cm wide)
• 1 ribbon, approx. 2.5 cm wide and the same length as the muslin strip
• Hot glue and gun
• scissors
• ruler

Handicrafts with natural materials in summer for children – instructions

And the crown is really easy to tinker with natural material in summer: Place the muslin ribbon in front of you and arrange the branches lengthways and side by side up to the middle of the strip. The group of branches (about 38 to 40 cm long at this step) should be in the middle area. Also, always leave enough space between two branches for another to fit between them (we’ll explain why in a moment). Do not glue them on yet, because this is the only way to remove, move or exchange branches. Once you are happy with the arrangement, glue it in place.

Now fold the lower half of the tape up and glue it to the branches. Now attach further branches to it, always in the areas that you have just left free between the branches, i.e. offset from the previous row. After that, you can hide the ends of the branches with the other ribbon by taping it over it. Let the glue dry well for a while and tie the finished crown around your head.

Make a raft yourself with natural materials

A raft like this is really fun. With it, the children can play by a stream, by the pool, lake or simply in a wash bowl. And it’s really not difficult to do either. Just get enough sticks. These should be roughly the same size or cut accordingly. Then you will need a stick for the mast and two smaller ones to support this mast, as well as a large green leaf for the sail. Then you can already tinker the raft with natural material in summer.

The sticks for the raft can either be tied together or glued together with hot glue or adhesive tape. Both work very well, but you save time with the adhesive variant and it may be a little easier for children to implement. Glue the two short sticks diagonally to the stick for the mast, spear the sheet for the sail and the homemade toy is ready! Of course, you can vary the materials used as you wish.