Recycled Box: Spring Showcase

The Hidden Garden

We've made a beautiful garden from an old box and used it for many different purposes already: built small worlds with several different themes; used as a display case for recent activities and crafts and as a display for the introduction to play; learned about types of flowers and insects; reviewed sorting by objects in land, air, and water.

To make a case, I removed 2 sides from the box leaving about 2 inches at the bottom of the box to keep it steadier. The 2 top flaps are bend forward slightly and stapled together. The size of the base is a little larger then 12 by 12. I made holes along the top edges - 8 holes per each side. The ribbons strung through the holes are used to display the items elevated from the base. The ribbons are not tight to anything so that we can change the height of the items attached to them.

We used 12 by 12 pre printed scrapbook sheets. Camilla enjoyed covering the box with glue so much! Then I gave her stickers for embellishments (the stickers are reusable).

For our first scene in the box, we set a pond filled with glass beads and fish, our newly crafted tulip and crocus, animals, and flying insects. I love how Camilla is fascinated by her garden in this picture. So funny!

Spring flower craft with a TP roll

I drew grass and leaves free hand on 2 pieces of construction paper, cut them out, and glued them together at the ends to make a "ring".

Camilla was happy to color all the flower stems as much as she wanted. She didn't cover all the rolls. So I smoothed all the surfaces with the brush after she got finished.

To make each flower, I cut out two pieces. I cut them halfway along midline: one starting at the bottom and one at the top. Then I connected the two to make a 3-D flower.

We'll use these flowers to learn about the parts of flowers and to decorate them with sparkle, gems and insects that live in the grass.

What are your favorite spring flowers?