Rachel Clare has a message for children: “Go outside!”. Her book Play Wild: Nature Craft Projects for Tamariki encourages children to connect with the natural world and develop a foraging mindset. By making use of what can be found outside in flower, leaf, pebble and stick form, and in recycling bins and pantries, Rachel shows tamariki how to make all kinds of beautiful projects from harakeke waka to flower crowns and giant microgreen hands.

Rachel will be running three nature craft workshops for children at the STIHL Shop Garden Fete on Sunday 10 November.

9.15am – 9.45am Nature wristbands and magic wands 

Dress to impress by making a cool wristband out of petals and leaves, then construct your own magic wand and get ready to cast some nature spells.

10.10am – 10.40am Pressed flower lanterns

Create an enchanting pressed-flower lantern to light up the night. BYO glass jar. 

11.10am – 11.40am – Pinch pots

Mould a pinch pot out of air-dry clay and decorate it with pressed flowers.

Rachel Clare is a gardening journalist and associate editor of Kiwi Gardener magazine, a former editor of Get Growing e-zine and OrganicNZ magazine, and former deputy editor of NZ Gardener magazine. She’s a self-confessed plant geek and lives with her partner Jacob Leaf, who took many of the photos in Play Wild, in a small house in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland where they grow flowers and food, keep bees, and try to encourage their two children to go outside.

Each session will last around 30 minutes and all tools and materials will be supplied. Copies of Play Wild will also be for sale and Rachel will be signing books.