Set Up a Nature Collection in Your Cubby House

Kids love collecting things like rocks, leaves, branches, bugs, etc. It is such a fun activity. Kids learn how things grow and so much more about nature and the world around them when they are involved in fun learning activities like collecting nature. With your help, you can set your kid’s cubby house up so they can enjoy their collections. Here’s how:

Create an image wall on the back supporting wall of their cubby house. Here they can display pictures and images of the nature things they find. Play hunting games where your children look for what they are collecting. For instance, hunt natural textures by doing rubbings on tree bark and rocks with many colors and decorate the cubby with them.
Cut show boxes so there is a window into the box, then stack them along the wall of the cubby. Place interesting rocks, flowers, branches and other natural objects into the windows of the boxes to display your collection.
Collect leaves and iron them in between two pieces of wax paper. Add a tag to the leaf that says what tree it is from and any fun notes you want to make about finding it or why your child likes this particular leaf.
Create masterpiece art with the natural objects by gluing them on a juice lid and making a sculpture. Then spray paint them with a metallic paint to turn it into a objet d’art. When dry, hang from the ceiling or put on a shelf in the cubby house.
Glue rocks down on chip board and frame the board. Or you can paint big rocks and use them as paper weights or to hold the cubby door open.
Put a set of hooks on the back wall of the cubby house and use string on construction paper or poster board to hang rubbings or pictures of clouds and switch them easily when your child desires a change.

Collecting natural objects is really only half the fun. Your kids will love organizing their natural object collection into something they can continue to enjoy in their own cubby house. It personalizes the space and will make them proud. Plus, it is a learning activity – total win-win! So, go for it and give them the little help they made need in finding boxes, paper, etc. Then, watch them enjoy the big world there is right in their own backyard.

Highlighted Cubby House: Moondance Cubby House

Here comes your child, ready for their mission to dance on the moon. They mount the stairs and ascend into their space ship. They turn and wave to you at the back door and then go off to play in space. While parents know that this cubby house and covered deck is a piece of kids playground equipment, it will never be that in the minds of your children. It is going to be a space ship, a princess’ castle or a gangster’s hideaway, depending on where your child wants to be that day. And it will change all of the time as out cubby houses inspire a creative imagination in children.