Canada Flag Nature Craft for Kids:
Maple Tree Rubbing
For Canadians feeling patriotic or for non-Canadians learning about Canada, here's a fun nature craft to get your creative kids outdoors.
We made this Canada flag craft last summer for Canada Day, but it would be great to do anytime! All you need is some paper, a red crayon or coloured pencil, and a maple tree!
Lay your paper in landscape format and using a maple leaf, mark out thirds with vertical lines down the paper. Make a leaf rubbing in the centre of the paper (notice that nice Canadian spelling of 'centre' ;-p ) by laying the paper on top of the leaf and gently rubbing the crayon at a sideways angle over the paper where the leaf is underneath.
Then, lay the paper on the trunk of the maple tree and make bark rubbings over the outside thirds of the paper to fill in those sections completely.
Enjoy the time outdoors and perhaps take the opportunity to also check out some other types of barks and leaves and make comparisons.