|
Fall Fun and Winter Cheer
Fall is a great time to collect cool stuff from nature for holiday decorations. Take a hike in a nearby park or your backyard, and pick up interesting bits like acorns, walnuts, pine cones, colorful leaves and seed pods from summer’s wildflowers.
Visit your hiking spot every few weeks to see what’s new and different!
Print the instructions
|
Clever Cones
Pine trees and other conifers have a clever way to spread their seeds. In the spring, the new little cones on the tree are green and flexible. In the summer, the cones close up tight to protect the developing seed inside. When fall comes, the scales dry out and open up, like a blooming flower. Now the papery seeds can blow on the wind to start a new tree!
|
|
 Be a Wild Child
Make a treat for the birds in your backyard.
1. Collect pine cones, or make popcorn balls (with help from a grown up).
2. Spread peanut butter or shortening on the cones and balls with a butter knife.
3. Sprinkle bird seed over the cones and balls.
4. Glue or tie a pretty ribbon to each one.
5. Hang the pinecone and popcorn ball feeders from the branch of a tree.
Watch the birds dig in!
|
|
Creative Crafts
Make holiday decorations from the acorns, nuts, leaves and pinecones you collected. Sturdy cones from a scotch pine tree work best for the pinecone turkey and owl. The long cone of a white pine tree works well for the pinecone angel. Make the colorful songbirds and sparkly sailboats from the shells of walnuts.
To make the crafts shown here, you will also need pipe cleaners, pom poms, yellow felt, glue, acrylic paint (red, yellow, blue), spray paint (silver, gold), glitter, construction paper (red, yellow, blue), google eyes, and feathers.
Print the instructions for the Walnut Songbirds, the Walnut Boats, the Pinecone Angle
|