DIYer Creates the Sweetest Craft for Summer Days
Summer walks with kids usually end with someone carrying a pocketful of rocks, leaves, flowers, or other tiny things picked up along the trail.
This nature craft from creator @mummy_and_my_three gives all those found pieces a place to go.
Crafting the Frame
The project is simple: gather sticks, then tie or glue them together into a simple frame shape, or, if you're feeling fancy, into butterfly wings. Wrap packing tape across the center, sticky side facing outward, to create a clear surface for pressing flowers, leaves, grasses, and other small finds collected during the walk.
@mummy_and_my_three Watch willow branches become butterfly wings Using willow branches, jute and tiny pressed flowers, we turned nature's treasures into the most beautiful butterfly wands for imaginative play. A full how to guide is available too if you'd like to make your own A simple pressed flower craft that feels a little bit magical and makes such a lovely spring nature craft for kids. These delicate butterfly wings catch the light so beautifully, and each one becomes completely unique depending on the flowers you choose Would your little ones love making these? #whimsy#pressedflowers#summercrafts#craftideas#flowercraft
Bursting with Life - Alan Gogoll
A New Frame For Every Walk
The frame looks different depending on where the walk happens. One afternoon might turn up clover, fern clippings, and long blades of grass. Another might end with tiny wildflowers, seed pods, moss, or fallen leaves pressed across the tape in layers.
Kids can stop whenever something catches their attention and add it to the frame immediately instead of carrying everything home loose in their pockets. The tape holds flowers and leaves in place once they are pressed flat.
Little kids can help build the frame, too, since the sticks do not need to match perfectly. Some frames end up square, others uneven and crooked, depending on what gets gathered first.
Related: What is a Native Garden and How to Grow One
Taking Home Memories
By the end of the walk, the frame becomes a small collection of whatever was nearby that day.
And unlike crafts that get forgotten once the glue dries, this one still carries pieces of the afternoon home with it. A flower picked near the sidewalk. Leaves gathered under a tree at the park. A few small things collected slowly over the course of a summer walk.
And a memory that lasts.
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 6:25 AM.