A creative and enjoyable thing for children to do with natural materials they forage is to make a collage. Leaves, flowers, seeds, twigs and even shells and small stones can be used. Some fairly thick paper or card makes a suitable backing. The card from old cereal boxes is ideal, and free! Painting the backdrop before or after sticking materials onto it may provide a more attractive picture. Fresh leaves and flowers can be used, but they will dry out and curl after a few days. For a more durable result, they can be pressed first. Sandwich the items between two sheets of paper and place in a flower press if you have one, or just under a pile of books. The process takes a couple of weeks or more, so you do lose some of the spontaneity. PVA glue is good for sticking them to the backing sheet. Creatures, such as bugs and animals make good subjects, as do people - they could try a self-portrait, for example. Felt tips can be used to add to the picture.
Another variant on the collage theme is to make a name plate, which the child can hang on their bedroom door. Again, remember that flowers and leaves will last only a few days unless they are pressed, but this may not matter if the child enjoys making the name plate and displaying it for a day or two.
Using a paper plate and two sheets of sticky-backed plastic you can make a lovely suncatcher, using leaves or flowers, which children can hang in their bedroom window. You can find full instructions here.
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Collage can even be used to help with early learning of numbers by challenging a child to make pictures including 1, 2, 3... leaves, petals or shells.