we're bark-ing mad

The bark on the squiggly gums is endlessly fascinating to children (I love it too).

Last week I found a group of boys pouring over a couple of pieces of bark and using the lines as a treasure map.  Who would have thought it!

Now I know that you can't improve on Mother Nature, but with all of this bark lying around I thought the children might enjoy making their own version of squiggly gum.

We are no strangers to bark art.  After all, nature does provide wonderful canvas' to explore.

Here are some other things we have tried:

• bark painting at preschool
• bark christmas decorations

Have you any creative experiences with natural materials to share?