7 Bohemian Inspired History Crafts

Wearable art with educational lessons tied in! Visit We Are Teachers for the rest of the post!

What Can You Do With A Leaf?!

Leaf Surface Area - Practice non-standard measuring with leaves, great way to introduce the concept of area. Visit Kindergarten Lessons for more details and measuring ideas! PBS has a fun activity that integrates science and math. Kids shine a flashlight on a leaf and trace its shadow on grid paper to find the area of a leaf!

Leaf Symmetry - Check out the cool art project Beautiful Ideas did!

Science - Is a Green Leaf Really Green? Click here to find out! Also, check out Exploring Life Community's photosynthesis experiment!
Create a Leaf Skeleton - ehow

Descriptive Writing - "Meet My Leaf, " free printable from Scholastic
Leaf Descriptions - Set up a leaf station in your classroom. Kids work in pairs. One child describes a leaf. The other child has to find the correct leaf. This activity is a great way for kids to learn the importance of detail (adjectives) and comprehension (listening skills).

Leaf Hunt, Tally, Graph, Fractions - Classic activity that's always popular with young students. Go on a leaf hunt outside around the school yard. Have kids tally their leaves. Then, as a class, graph your findings! Afterwards, have kids write the fraction for each color found. Younger kids could also practice their patterning skills with colored leaves.

Leaf Art - Who doesn't like leaf rubbings! If kids color nicely, they could show leaf transformations for a geometry unit. Have them use one leaf and make their rubbings in different colors. Leaf texture via Jimmie Homeschool Mom - flickr commons

Sun Baked Bricks

Make your own mini bricks, while learning about soil composition and solar energy, from 60 Second Science. All you need is clay-rich soil, water, ice cube tray (or mold), dry grass, and a sunny spot outside. Place your soil into a bowl, add a little bit of water, and stir around with a craft stick until you get a "thick" mud consistency. Next, mix in your grass. Then, press your mixture into your mold and smooth your bricks out on top. Now, bake your bricks in the sun! Talk about how the sun is a form of radiant energy, as well as thermal energy. The sun is a renewable resource that we can utilize to heat things up! When the bricks are ready, remove them from the mold and build something! You can keep your bricks natural or paint them. You can make houses for action figures, caves for animal figurines, etc. 

Hot Rocks

ART - Jazz up your stones! First, go on a nature walk for flat rocks. Bake rocks at 225 F for 15 minutes on a foil lined sheet. Make sure your rocks are super dry before you bake them. Remove stones, don't touch them! Use a spatula to slide them onto your work surface. Hold a peeled crayon with the tip touching the stone. You can create swirls, lines, dots, anything you'd like! Experiment with different colors, I kept mine simple - black, white, gold, and silver. SCIENCE - Ask kids if the crayon melting is a physical or chemical change. It's a physical change of matter!

Twig Dragonflies

photo via twig and toadstool

Create beautiful dragonflies out of twigs and maple keys! You can keep them natural or make them sparkle! Visit Twig and Toadstool for the full tutorial!

Blooms Recycled Paper

Making paper out of recycled newspaper and old paper scraps is a great way to show kids how to be greener. For some extra fun and to be even greener, add flower seeds to your paper solution. When the paper dries, kids can plant their paper and watch their seeds grow. 

1. You'll need to window screen/ frame for this
2. Let all your scraps soak in water overnight
3. Next, blend scraps in a blender
4. Pour the scraps out and add water in a large, deep container
5. Add flower seeds (Marigolds work really well)
6. Dip your screen in and lift up
7. Leave paper solution on the screen to dry overnight
8. Once paper is completely dry, pull off of screen
9. Cut your paper into squares and give to kids to plant!

Plant your seeds in a cup, pot, or your backyard in soil. Make sure your seeds get plenty of sun and water.