Little River Canyon 
Field School

Jacksonville State University
246 Martin Hall
700 Pelham Road North
Jacksonville, AL 36265
(256) 782-5697

Crafts

Nature crafts come in all shapes, sizes, and skill levels. Here are just a few ideas to get you started.

Kites

Making and flying kites is a wonderful project that can lead to learning about wind and weather, design and engineering, aerodynamics and gravity. You can hold contests for the longest flying kite, smallest kite that flies, and so on. This is a great project with almost assured success for all ages and ability levels.

http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/detectives/Technology/
Excellent site of kite links put together by students!

http://www.ed.uri.edu/unitweb/dennis/KidsandKiteS.htm
Lesson on kites from a classroom teacher

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~et3m-tkkw/starkite.html
A black plastic kite

http://www.onenorthpole.com/ToyShop/kite.html
Easy kite from a regular sheet of paper – it really works!

Paper making

This is a great low cost project. Use waste paper from your school to make cards, art projects, and displays. Making paper also provides a good lesson in water quality when dealing with waste water. Don’t just talk about recycling – do it!

http://www.tappi.org/paperu/
Excellent site on paper making – provides extensions into history, math, and biology

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/makingpaper.html
Short text based site

Soap Making

This is an activity for older students. It involves lye, a potentially dangerous chemical (although you can make your own with wood ashes). This is best done outside because it is messy. It is a fun “Pioneer” type activity when done over a fire, although it works just fine over a gas camp stove. There is a great deal of chemistry in this fun and productive project. You can also do bubble projects and activities with the soap you make!

http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/
Good set of instructions and information.

http://www.alcasoft.com/soapfact/history.html
Colonial soap making

http://www.cavemanchemistry.com/cavebook/
Excellent piece on the history of soap and other high school level chemistry projects

http://cator.hsc.edu/~kmd/caveman/projects/soap/
Soap making for high school students