Conkers Crafts (aka Buckeye Crafts or Horse Chestnuts!)
Oooh this post has been a LONG TIME in the making – 5 years to be exact. Today is all about CONKERS (also known as Buckeye or Chestnuts and for me the German Kastanien) – ie Conker Crafts for Kids. Crafting with Chestnuts/ Conkers (I am going to be so undecided as to which term to use throughout, so bear with me please!!!) is is one of my most precious childhood memories.
I have a handful of memories mainly around Autumn Crafts for Kids and Christmas Crafts – out of which my love for crafting AND crafting with MY KIDS is born. I particularly loved nature crafts for kids. It is those memories that I am trying to pass on to and re-create with my kids.
There is something irresistible about Autumn nature finds – the smooth textures of acorns and chestnuts/ conkers in strong contrast to the tactile prickliness of pine cones and acorn “hats”. The colours and shapes of leaves to play with an recreate. Wonderful.
So… today is all about the humble Horse Chestnut (not the edible kind) – in North America they are often referred to as Buckeyes, here in the UK as Conkers. And here are 15 lovely conker craft ideas for Fall.
Conker Crafts for Kids and Grown Ups! Perfect Autumn Crafts for All
Conker & Plasticine Animals – combine plasticine with conkers, makes it really easy for younger children to work with this wonderful nature material. It creates an explosion of colour and is lots of fun.
God’s Eyes are a popular Summer craft, but they also look beautiful as Chestnut and Stick Weaving Craft for Autumn.
PLAY IDEAS: Some simple conker play ideas and educational games to do with conkers! Perfect for a Forest School Setting!
These are probably one of our favourite little Conker Crafts – Cute Pencil Toppers – I love things you make that you can “use” and keep!
Adorable cute Conker Face Friends
Conkers or Buckeyes make great Puppet Feet! As they are easy (ish) to make holes into and have a great little weight to them.
These Simple Conker Stream Toys are so easy and super fun to make! And look WONDERFUL flying through the air!
Learn the British traditional game of Conkers – a childhood classic, soon to be forgotten if the new generation don’t learn How to Play “Conkers” soon!
Conkers Horse Craft – love the acorn “hat” muzzle
These little Buckeyes are turned into CUTE Spiders – perfect for Halloween
Horse Chestnut Crafts – SNAKES – super tactile and great threading activity! Again, one of my more “favourite” Buckeye Crafts, especially with younger children (grown ups need to make the holes of course)
Conkers Crafts – Bat Pencil Topper
Adorable conker craft – sweet sweet owls! Totally adorable!
More Buckeye Crafts Cuteness!!! Adorable Conker Foxes. Great idea to add some felt and ribbons to your conkers. So sweet!
These are actually from an Etsy Shop – Buckeye Snowflake Ornaments – I will have to investigate and see if I can make some!
We also have a more “all year round” 20 Nature Craft Set of ideas here:
We also have some great Nature Play ideas – just nature and NOTHING else needed!
OR take a look at some of specifically theme Nature Crafts:
- Leaf Crafts
- Lavender Makes & Bakes
- Shell Crafts
- Flowers & Leaf Crafts
- Pine Cone Crafts
- Stick Crafts
- Stone Crafts
Or check out our comprehensive Autumn Crafts for Kids list here: