Sunday 6 October 2013

Autumn Crafting - Beech Nut Hedgehogs

Autumn kids craft beech nut hedgehog


I recently joined in with Red Ted Art's Autumn Craft hangout (you can see the video towards the end of this post), and I shared some twig hedgehogs that Ruby made at school.

On a recent walk through the woods, we spotted a beech tree - the odd leaf just beginning to turn a rich coppery shade of brown.  We thought the little nuts would make perfect spines for some more hedgehogs, so after a long Sunday walk, we got home and started crafting!

Beech tree
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Beech nuts

You will need:

Brown air drying clay (I purchased mine from Play Merrily)
Beech nuts
A pencil

Shape a piece of clay into an egg shape.  Flatten it along the bottom so it sits flat and inch out one end to make the head shape.  Use a pencil to make holes for the eyes.

Clay hedgehog with beech nuts


Push the beech nuts in firmly all over the body to form the spines.

Leave to dry.

The Forestry Commission have produced a helpful guide to spotting different fruits, nuts and seeds at this time of the year. There's also a whole host of craft activities to inspire you to get crafty in the forest.

Do check out the Autumn Craft hangout too with loads more ideas on crafting with nature.




Red Ted Art's Acorn Bracelets and Acorn Creatures and Acorn Tea Set and Chinese Lantern Fairy Lights
Kids Chaos Hammered leaf prints
Zing Zing Tree's Wool sticks - see video for details
Domestic Goddesque's Nature wreath and painted pine cone display
My Silver Birch Tea Lights

Linking up with Country Kids.

11 comments:

  1. So cute! I really do need to get our bottoms outdoors a bit more, they are so tired after school it's becoming much harder! x

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    1. It's hard for us during the week too. Same as you, tired after school and it's getting dark earlier. Hooray for weekends!

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  2. I love this, such a cute idea. Amy and I have collected lots of leaves and conkers, but I had no clue what to do with beech nuts, so didn't pick any of them up. It's great how many free craft materials we can find for free, if we go on a walk, isn't it?

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    1. It's great collecting natural materials for craft, often the shapes them-self will inspire what to make.

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  3. That is gorgeous and so simple- I have been on the look out for some things to do with Autumn that Syd could do, and this is perfect!

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    1. Aww thank you, I'm sure Syd would love it. x

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  4. He is so very cute - we need a good excuse to get outdoors and looking for nature stuff.

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  5. How cute is he?! and thank you for telling me what those little nuts are. Now, what to do with 248 conkers? (yes he did and yes, counted them all)

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  6. What a fun activity with some of nature's autumnal treasures - half the fun is collecting them all! Thanks for linking up and sharing your crafting fun with Country Kids.

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  7. That's such a brilliant idea. I think my eldest would love doing something like this as he's the more crafty one out of the three. Must go in hunt of some horse chest nut trees!

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