After a long winter of being cooped up in the house, children are ready to shed those extra layers of clothes and get outside for some much needed sunshine. In addition to scampering up and down the backyard, youngsters can enjoy structured activities like spring gardening and crafts. Making homemade personalized stepping stones and planting gardens are perfect outdoor activities for children to welcome the warm weather! You will find below how to make personalized stepping stones with your kids!
Benefits of Planting Spring Gardens
Aside from the obvious physical benefits of spring gardening, this activity offers a wealth of learning opportunities for children.
To make a child’s spring gardening experience as safe as possible, Pounders offers these important safety tips.
- Avoid planting plants with poisonous parts and sharp thorns.
- Take the normal precautions of outdoor sun exposure such as sun screen, hats, and plenty of water.
- Insect repellent may be appropriate if mosquitoes are a big problem.
- Use safe and appropriately sized tools. Also, instruct children on how to properly use and store the tools when they are not being used to avoid tripping hazards.
Making Personalized Stepping Stones for the Spring Garden
PinArts and crafts are not only fun for children! These types of activities build confidence, improve hand-eye coordination, encourage creativity, and help youngsters learn to listen and follow instructions. Making a DIY stepping stone is a fantastic craft activity, and a special way for a child to add a personal touch to his spring garden.
Here are the materials needed to make DIY personalized stepping stones:
- bag of concrete
- water (amount listed on the bag of concrete)
- sturdy mixing bucket
- rubber gloves
- protective glasses for each child
- concrete molds (takeout containers and pie tins work nicely)
- newspaper or a vinyl tablecloth
- large mixing spoon
- screen cut slightly smaller than the stepping stone (one piece for each stone)
- decorations (rhinestones, buttons, charms, etc)
How to Make Personalized Stepping Stones
- 1. Put on protective glasses and cover the work area with newspaper or a vinyl tablecloth.
- 2. Mix the concrete according to the package directions. Kids can help measure and pour the water, but concrete mixing should be done by an adult.
- 3. Spoon the mixed concrete into the mold until it is half full. Smooth the concrete out and then lay the piece of wire on top of it. The wire will reinforce the stepping stone so that it is more durable.
- 4. Finish filling the concrete mold to the top. Spread the mixture out and remove the air bubbles by lightly tapping the sides of the mold.
- 5. After the concrete is firm (takes about 45-minutes), kids can decorate the stones with rhinestones, buttons, handprints and other trinkets.
- 6. Let the decorated stepping stones sit in the molds undisturbed for three days before removing them.
There is no better way to celebrate the arrival of spring than by letting kids roll up their sleeves and get a little messy with outdoor spring activities like crafts and gardening.
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Oh wow! What a fun activity! I love the idea to personalize your garden or yard 🙂
It’s so much fun!
I really like this idea of kids creating their own stepping stone for the garden, this will be so much fun.
This is so cute! It would be a perfect weekend outdoors activity.. and such a good memory! Thanks for sharing 🙂
My pleasure!
What a fantastic idea to keep some great memories alive. I love it!
We made a few of these garden stones last year and they came out beautifully. It’s really nice to see something so personal in the garden.
That’s great and I totally agree! Definitely better than store bought.
Oh wow so much fun and such a great keepsake, perfect for grandparent gifts too!!
Neat idea, this would last for a while, and fun to make too
Great for grandparents too!. How fun!
What a great idea and kids would love making these.
I really love this idea. I love the look of stepping stones and to have ones are personal and a nice memory is wonderful.
This would be a very fun and useful project
These personalized stepping stones are such a neat and meaningful idea. I really love it.
Ive been wanting to do something at my Mom’s trailer in Memory of my Dad, and I just found what Im going to do! I had thought about painting rocks and making a rock garden..but I think this will be much more therapeutic, and can i even say fun? I think i will make a little pathway down the side of the trailer! thanks for inspiration I needed!
What a great idea! Love it!
I have wanted to do something like this for years.When I visited a friend in the Yukon years ago he had made some with rhubarb leaves . They were absolutely beautiful!Thanks for the reminder…
My pleasure!
My cousin just made these with her grands kids today. They had a blast!
I left a comment on this post last year and my daughter ended up making these with my granddaughters handprints and gave them out as gifts, it was very nice and is a great keepsake!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I think this is such a cute way to personalize your yard