It’s about a month late, but spring has finally sprung in New York, and we have taken to the park as though it were our backyard. It’s truly my one sadness of living in such an urban environment…that I have to travel to nature. But on the flip side, our local park is so grand and expansive that we really get to hike through trails, pathways, and across meadows.

And when we go to the park, we really GO to the park…I try to do all I can to prevent my kids from saying “Mommy, I wish we had brought _____!” We pack multiple snacks, blankets, games, extra clothes, sunscreens (we are in love with the new Babo Botanicals line), and sunglasses for all.

Since this was really our first campout day in the park, I decided to make it extra special. I’m always trying to find a way to get my kids to look up, down, and all around them, so I designed this nature scavenger hunt to encourage the 360 degree view. It’s designed for preschool-aged kids and older, both readers and pre-readers.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Printed template
• Empty egg carton
• Scissors
• Tape

How to assemble and play:

• Print out the template and cut the full rectangle.
• Tape the rectangle to the top of the egg carton.
• Give each kid or team of kids a carton for the scavenger hunt. Send the kids out to find objects that match the pictures on the carton, having them collect objects from nature that match the pictures, words, or descriptions on the carton top. Encourage the kids to pick things off the ground that have fallen or that are weeds. And if your little one finds a red gum wrapper for the red category, then great! It teaches a good less in litter clean-up.

Oliver was very studious about matching his loot to the photos, while Sommer just filled her carton with yellow dandelions.

After running around collecting sticks, dandelions, and leaves, we enjoyed our picnic, reapplied our sunscreen, and relaxed on this beautiful day.

This post was sponsored by Babo Botanicals, and ProjectKid.com received the products compliments of Babo Botanicals as part of the PreenMeVIP program.

It’s Earth Day and now, more than ever, we really need to sit up and pay attention. So after you reuse your Ziploc bags, turn off unnecessary lights, and vote the right people into office, I say take a break and craft.

This year, celebrate Earth Day with your kids by making a cute, and also useful craft project. This penguin book end reuses a drink bottle, a lone baby sock, and a Tyvek shipping envelope. This one comes from my first book, Project Kid.

What you’ll need:

• One 17-ounce plastic drink bottle

• 2 to 3 cups of sand

• Funnel

• 1 baby sock

• 4 to 5 cotton balls

• White and yellow felt

• Scissors

• 2 tiny black pompoms (available at Michaels Stores)

• Tacky glue

• One 2.-inch piece of wire

• One 2 cm felt bead (available from TadaaStudio.com)

• 1 Tyvek envelope

• Washi tape

• 2 colors of yarn

Make it:

1. Clean out the bottle and remove all labels. Fill it with sand and replace the cap.
2. To make the penguin’s head, stuff the baby sock with cotton balls and slip it over the top of the bottle.
3. To make the eyes, cut two circles about the size of a plain M&M from white felt. Glue a tiny black pom-pom to each. Glue the circles onto the sock.
4. To make the beak, fold a piece of yellow felt and cut a 1⁄4-inch triangle on the crease. Glue the crease onto the sock about 1⁄2 inch below the eyes.
5. To make the earmuffs, bend the wire into a headband shape. Cut the felt bead in half and glue a piece to each end of the wire, rounded side facing out. Slip the earmuffs onto the penguin’s head and glue to secure.
6. Cut two wing shapes (pointed at one end, cut straight across on the other) from the Tyvek envelope, about two-thirds the height of your bottle and about 3 inches across at the widest point. Cover the wings with strips of washi tape and glue the top, straight edge of each wing around the neck of the bottle.
7. To give the penguin a scarf, braid three 20-inch strands of yarn (the finished scarf will be about 16 inches long). If the yarn is thin, you may want to double or triple it  to give it some thickness.
8. Finally, to make the feet, fold a 3-inch square of yellow felt in half and cut a 2-inch-tall half heart shape on the crease. Glue it to the bottom of the bottle, rounded points facing out.

Playing with scale can make even the most mundane object exciting. An elephant that you can fit in the palm of your hand, a slice of cardboard pizza the size of your front door, or an itty bitty plate of pancakes that can fit in your dollhouse—they all make you smile no matter what.

Check out these three ginormous food crafts that would make any kid swoon. Perfect for parties for just for silly playroom decor, they are easy to make and darling to look at. Too bad they don’t taste as good as they look!

1. PIN-WORTH PASTA

How flippin’ cute is this painted pasta party decoration from Handmade Charlotte? Wagon wheels, penne, bowties, ravioli…I thought I had seen it all until this appeared! So cute and simple.

2. FANTASTIC FRUIT

I would surround myself with honeycomb paper decorations all day long if I could. They have such a nostalgic yet modern feel. And they naturally lend themselves to transforming in to fruit like these beauties from The House That Lars Built.

3. LUSCIOUS LOLLIES

Willie Wonka’s got nothing on these pops from Oh Happy Day. Made from styrofoam disks and dowels, they are so easy to make. Perfect for a Candyland Birthday party!

4. DIGGIN’ THESE DONUTS

If you’ve ever visited Studio DIY, you’d know she has a thing with donuts. And these donut balloons are just asking to be iced and sprinkled! Who knew these existed?

5. EYE-CATCHING ICE CREAM

Back in my days at Parents magazine, i worked on this adorable Ice Cream Social party. These decorations were made with styrofoam balls, tissue paper, and cardboard cones.

I’m so thrilled, flattered, tickled, excited to be named in the Parents magazine Best of the Web list for 2016! With so many crafty sites out there, I’m really honored that they chose Project Kid to represent in the play category.

Head over to Parents.com and get your bookmarking finger ready! There are some good resources in this list that you’ll be psyched to know!

When it comes to decorating a nursery, it’s easy to focus on the big statement-makers: Wallpaper, decals, or even a hand-painted mural are great for setting the tone, fast. But don’t overlook the small, sweet design details — like kid-friendly art or a modern weaving — that you’ll find your eyes traveling to again and again during all those middle-of-the-night feedings and lullabies before bed. This playful, Matisse-inspired take on a diorama is just the kind of DIY that will delight in baby’s room — and might even migrate beyond the nursery walls in years to come. The best part? You can customize it in any color combination you like.

Let’s get started.

You will need:

• 14-inch embroidery hoop (1 inch deep)
• 1/8-inch balsa wood sheets (totaling at least 2 to 3 square feet)
• Pencil
• Utility knife
• Emery board
• Acrylic paint (4 to 5 colors)
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Wooden coffee stirrers
• Hot-glue gun
• Cutting mat
• Gloss varnish (optional)

Step 1: Use a pencil to draw leaf shapes on the balsa wood. My leaves ranged in size from 3 to 5 inches tall. (Remember that the more complicated the shape, the trickier the turns you’ll have to make with your utility knife.)

Step 2: Working over a cutting mat, cut out the leaves with the utility knife. Don’t try to go all the way through the wood on the first cut. It’s better to score it with a shallow cut and then go back over each line 2 or 3 times to make it all the way through.

Step 3: Once the leaves are cut, use the emery board to sand down the edges.

Step 4: Paint each leaf and a coffee stirrer to match. (Since balsa wood is so porous and absorbent, it’s best not to use paint that is too watery, as it can warp the wood.) Set these aside to try.

Step 5: Trace the bottom fifth of the hoop onto a sheet of balsa wood and cut out a 2-inch tall wedge with a wavy top edge. Once cut, trace that shape and cut another identical piece.

Step 6: Paint the hoop and the two wedge pieces one color. Let dry.

Step 7: Hot glue the wedges to the front and back of the hoop’s bottom edge.

Step 8: Hot glue the matching painted coffee stirrers to the backs of the leaves.

Step 9: Trim coffee stirrers with scissors to create varying heights. Hot glue the sticks to the inside edges of the wedges, gluing some inside the front and some inside the back to create depth.

Optional: Spray with a gloss varnish to seal.