April 22, 2020 will mark the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day! To celebrate, try one or all of these earthy crafts that you can easily do at home.
We encourage you to explore new ways to reuse items for art and play instead of buying new tools.
Recycled Paintbrushes and Stamps
For our younger crafters (with adult help) you can make paintbrushes or stamps made from items found around the house instead of buying new ones. Learning to repurpose items helps reduce resource use and keeps you creative. Try these suggestions: use a clothespin and a piece of old sponge or cotton ball for a fun and interesting brush; bottles and cups can become stamps; even leaves, and sticks from outside can give you new prints and textures in your art.
Be as creative as possible and post pictures of your art and the reused tool that helped you make it.
Insect Hotel
For our more advanced crafters, make an insect hotel. This fun craft will provide helpful insects, like pollinators, with a safe, dry home.
You’ll need an empty plastic soda/water bottle, a hole punch, some string of any kind, and whatever you can find in and around your yard (such as pine cones, sticks, rocks or things to fill the bottle while still making nooks and crannies).
First, with an adult’s help, cut the top and bottom off of the bottle. You’ll end up with a wide plastic tube.
Second, fill the tube with pine cones, sticks, rocks, whatever you can find until the tube is so full that nothing will fall out. If you have paper or plastic straws that you don’t use and you are trying to not throw away this is a great way to give them a second life. Just cut them in halves or thirds and stick them in with the rest of your items. (see photo) We used a pinecone, paper straws, Phragmites, sticks, and a few rocks for our hotel. The size of the gaps will determine who uses your hotel, bigger gaps for bigger bugs.
Finally, punch one hole on each side of the bottle and tie your string to each end to make a handle. You can then hang your new insect hotel from a tree or bush. Choose a warm and sheltered place in your backyard. The insects will take residence in all the small crevices between what you have stuffed in your bottle.
Just like the saying “Earth Day, Every Day”, insects will use a good hotel all year long, including as a place to stay over winter.
Color a Delaware State Parks Coloring Page!
Here’s a fun way for visitors of all ages to explore the state parks when you can’t get outside. Download our Delaware State Parks coloring book pages, print them on letter-sized paper, and grab the crayons! You can share your creations on with us on social media by using the hashtag #DEStateParks. Download a Delaware State Parks coloring book page.
Have fun with these crafts, and Happy Earth Day! Find more ways you can celebrate Earth Day 2020.
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