Crafts for a Garden Themed Birthday Party

Children enjoy garden crafts.

Nature lovers can host their own garden-themed birthday party with crafts. The garden represents innocence and abundance, which is well suited for a children's themed party. Choose crafts that all the children will enjoy, such as a painting, flower activities, gnome crafts or making caterpillars.

Painting Pots

Provide seed packets for the children to take home with their pots.

Set out smocks and tempura or acrylic paints for a painting craft. Tempura paint is better for younger children since it is completely washable and non-toxic, while acrylic is permanent. Using craft paintbrushes, the children can paint terracotta flower pots with flower or animal designs or experiment with colors. Leave the pots or stones to dry on newspapers to pick up at the end of the party. Another garden painting craft is painting large stepping stones or smooth river stones that can decorate the children's home gardens.

Flowers

Guide the children in creating long-lasting blooms with a flower craft. One flower craft uses tissue paper. Give each child a stack of four sheets of colored tissue paper. Fold it accordion style like a fan. Twist a green pipe cleaner around the center for the stem and carefully pull out the petals by separating each piece of tissue paper. Children can make other types of flowers by gluing buttons or large beads onto the ends of pipe cleaners and adding petals crafted from construction paper. Another craft is to cut out felt circles for the flower centers and long thin oval felt pieces for petals. Children can glue these pieces onto card stock to make greeting cards.

Gnomes

Gnomes are protectors of the garden.

A simple gnome craft is to pre-sew cone-shaped gnome hats that are approximately 10 inches wide at the bottom and 15 inches tall. Supply the children fabric paints, glitter and pom poms to decorate the hats. Another project is to purchase bisque-ware garden gnomes for the children to paint. Children can also craft gnomes from toilet paper rolls. Print out templates of gnome heads, arms and feet for the children to color. Instruct the children cut them out and glue them onto the cardboard rolls to make gnomes that stand up.

Caterpillars

Caterpillars teach children about the cycle of the butterfly.

Prepare in advance by cutting out 6-inch long leaves from green felt for a caterpillar project. Provide an assortment of pom poms for the children to glue in a line on the leaves to form the insects. Decorations, such as stickers, googly eyes and pipe cleaners, can be added. Then help the children glue magnetic strips underneath their leaves so they can use their caterpillars as refrigerator magnets. Caterpillars can also be made from four cup sections of an egg carton in a line. Precut the egg cartons and provide paints for the children to decorate the caterpillars; cut up 5-inch piece of pipe cleaners to form the antennae. Another craft is to help children cut strips of green construction paper and guide them in folding the paper accordion-style to craft paper insects. Decorate the faces with googly eyes and markers.

References

• Birthday in a Box: Pipe Cleaner Garden
• Birthday in a Box: Pompom Caterpillars
• Family Fun: Little Bearded Gnome
• DLTK: Gnome Toilet Paper Roll Craft