Club Day. The Nature Version.

Today, the Nature Club met, and we had a lovely time together.  The pre-work we did at the last meeting was used this week, as we made an eggshell mosaic picture frame with the eggshells we dyed.

I had originally planned to use thrifted picture frames for this project.  But then I changed my mind because I didn't want to deal with the risk that the eggshells wouldn't stick, or that the frames would be of mismatched sizes and the battle that could potentially ensue over them.  So, I decided to make my own. 

We picked up some fallen sticks when we went on our field trip to the nature refuge earlier this week.  I hot-glued them together to make the frame, then lashed the corners for extra strength and stability.  Finally, I made the mats out of a sturdy construction paper and hot-glued them to the stick frames.  Voila...instant picture frames.

Once the girls arrived, we ate a snack that Jaelyn prepared (saskatoon oatmeal muffins).  I had a book at the ready, I Feel Orange Today, which I chose because it gently introduces children to how colour can influence or be used to describe emotion, and because we were working with the coloured eggs.

The mosaic craft was inspired by a project in Green Crafts for Children.  We reviewed the plants we had used to dye the eggs, and the resulting colours.  The children broke their own eggshells, each in their own unique ways, and made their own designs by simply dabbing white glue on the construction paper and placing a small piece of eggshell on the glue.  We talked a wee bit about using the materials available to us and where mosaics originated from.  Once the girls were done, they transitioned to playing a game until parents arrived to pick them up.