Nature Walk Cardboard Vase Craft: A Simple Flower Activity for Kids
If you’re looking for an easy kids’ activity that gets everyone outside, off screens, and excited to go for a walk, this nature-walk cardboard vase craft is a sweet one.
And the best part? You probably already have everything you need.
Supplies for the Cardboard Vase Craft
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You really don’t need much for this cardboard vase craft for kids. (And now you can make good use of all those Amazon boxes piled up in the garage.)
- A piece of sturdy cardboard
- A permanent marker or black marker
- Scissors, if you need to cut the cardboard to size
- A pencil or another tool for making the holes
- Flowers, leaves, grasses, or other nature finds
Note: You can use faux flowers if you want to preserve your design rather than making it more about the nature walk.
How to Make a Nature Walk Cardboard Vase
I’ve seen all sorts of variations of this craft, but the fact that it is inexpensive and makes for a fun spin on a nature walk is just the motivation to give it a go. Here’s how to do this easy kids craft:
1. Find and prep a piece of cardboard
Look through your garage or recycling bin and find a piece of cardboard that’s large enough for your vase and bouquet.
You can make it any size you like, but for little kids, I’d recommend something roughly half the size of a sheet of paper or a little larger. For older kids, they could be challenged with a much smaller or larger vase size.
2. Draw your vase
Grab your permanent marker and draw a vase toward the bottom half of the cardboard. It does not have to be perfect.
If you have younger kids, you can make a simple vase outline, then your kids can add stripes, dots, flowers, hearts, faces, or whatever else they come up with to ‘decorate’ their vase.
Note: Make sure you leave plenty of empty cardboard above the vase because that’s where your flower bouquet will eventually go.
3. Poke holes above the vase
Now it’s time to make the holes for your flowers. Use a pencil or another pointed tool to poke several small holes across the cardboard above your drawn vase. (I used the tip of my scissors, then poked through the holes again with a pencil to open them up a bit more.)
Try to be random about where you place the holes rather than lining them up perfectly. Once the flowers are poked through, it makes the finished bouquet look more natural.
Important: An adult should handle the hole-poking step, especially with younger children.
Note: The holes should be large enough for your flower stems to slide through but not so large that the stems fall right back out. You can make as few or as many holes as you’d like. Around 5–10 holes is a good starting point.
4. Go on a flower walk
Now comes the fun part: going on a nature walk and finding flowers and stems to add to your vase. You can walk around your backyard, neighborhood, garden, or a nearby nature area and look for flowers and other plants.
Encourage your kids to notice:
- Different colors
- Big and small flowers
- Different leaf shapes
- Long and short stems
- Grass and other greenery
- Flowers they’ve never noticed before
You don’t have to turn it into a formal nature lesson, but you can if you want!
5. Fill your cardboard vase
Once you’ve found some flowers, bring them back to your cardboard vase—or add them as you go. Have your child slide each flower stem through one of the holes above the vase.
Keep adding flowers until your cardboard vase has its very own bouquet. This is where the craft really comes to life. The flowers look like they’re coming right out of the vase they drew!
What Flowers Can You Use?
The beauty of this nature walk flower craft is that you don’t need a specific type of flower. Use whatever is growing where you are, as long as they are kid-friendly flowers and you are allowed to pick them.
Dandelions are especially fun because they’re easy for little hands to find and their stems work well for this activity. You can also look for small wildflowers, daisies, grasses, leaves, and other greenery.
Here are some weeds, wildflowers, herbs, and garden flowers that would be perfect to add to your cardboard vase craft:
- Dandelion
- Queen Anne’s Lace
- Daisies
- Cosmos
- Rubeckia
- Calendula
- Zinnia
- Lavendar
- Pansies
How to Make It a Learning Activity for Kids
This is also a really easy way to sneak a little learning into your afternoon without making it feel like school. You can even turn it into a nature scavenger hunt if you want. Or you can simply discuss your findings and let them enjoy the nature walk as it naturally unfolds.
For younger kids, you can practice colors, counting, and simple words like big, small, long, short, soft, and smooth.
If you’ve got preschoolers, you can count how many flowers you’ve collected, learn plant names, or sort them by size and color.
For older kids, you can have them practice identifying the flowers and learning which plants are native to your area. You could even pair this activity with their nature journal. They could take a picture of their bouquet, then write an entry in their nature journal about the types of flowers in their bouquet.
What If the Flowers Wilt?
Since you’re using real flowers, your bouquet isn’t going to last forever—and that’s okay! Enjoy your nature walk, and take a few pictures when you’re done.
You can also try pressing some of the flowers afterward if you’d like to turn your nature finds into another craft. Pressed flowers can be used for cards, stickers, bookmarks, artwork, and other projects. Or simply let the flowers dry in the cardboard and see what happens.
As I mentioned earlier, you could also do this cardboard vase craft with faux flowers if you wanted the activity to be more about the craft rather than the nature walk. And that would be super fun as well.
Can You Make This Cardboard Vase Ahead of Time?
Absolutely. If you’re doing this cardboard vase craft with toddlers or preschoolers, I would actually prepare the cardboard ahead of time.
Draw the vase, cut the cardboard if necessary, and have an adult make the holes. Then your child can decorate the vase and head outside for the flower walk.
For older kids, let them do as much of the preparation as they’re safely able to do. They might enjoy designing their own vase before heading outside.
More Ways to Change It Up
Once you’ve tried the basic vase version, there are lots of little ways to make this nature craft with real flowers your own.
- Try a color challenge. Pick one color scheme before you go on your nature walk and see how many flowers you can find in that shade of color.
- Make a rainbow bouquet. See if you can find flowers in several different colors.
- Add leaves and grasses. Your bouquet doesn’t have to be flowers only. Greenery can make the arrangement look fuller.
- Make seasonal bouquets. Try a spring flower walk, summer flower walk, and fall nature walk and compare what you find.
- Use faux flowers. If you want a reusable version, use artificial flowers instead. Kids can practice threading the stems through the cardboard holes again and again. Easy Peasy and Fun
- Make a different shape. You don’t have to do a vase with flowers. You can make any shape out of cardboard, poke holes in it, and thread flowers through. (We also tried our hands at flower pumpkins, and they were a blast.)
A Simple Craft That Gets Kids Outside
I think what I love most about this nature walk cardboard vase is that it gets kids outside, enjoying God’s creation, and using their hands to create something beautiful.
It’s not complicated. You don’t need a trip to the craft store. You don’t need a printer, special supplies, or a perfectly planned afternoon.
All you need is a piece of cardboard, a marker, and a little bit of time outside.
