Nature Boxes

A few years back Holly did a project where we took an egg carton and painted several natural color schemes in each little egg cubby. She started to learn about shading colors, changing various greens and browns just a tad with either white or black paint. Then we took our Nature Box out for nature walks to fill it up. Such a simple project. The great thing though, is aside from learning shading she is learning to stop and take a closer look in nature. Noticing that the green of trees is not the same green for each tree or that pine cones come in several shades of brown. The nature box slows a child down and really gives some focus to their time in nature. We have also done a box that is specific to the beach with more greys and lighter colors, same concept just meant for the beach.


I decided to try this activity with some fellow homeschool kids through an activity with our homeschool group. We had a great attendance and the children really enjoyed this project. They loved painting the cartons and then had a great time using them on our nature walk. The kids kept stopping to compare contents or share with others where they found a great treasure along the path that might work for one's box. Once our nature walk was finished we gathered and the kids all did a show and tell circle with their boxes, sharing a few special treasures found along the way. This was a lot of fun to with friends!