There seems to be an explosion of nature crafts on Red Ted Art at the moment.. first we made our Nature Bag, then we finished our Get Crafty with Nature ebook, then we made acorn elves and fairy houses… and now.. now we have acorn animals for you! Hooray! The great thing about fresh acorns, is that they are quite soft, so small hands can manage making holes too (compared to chestnuts, which can be a little tricky). I used to make variations of these as a child. We made a horsey and some sheep… now the horse can be made whilst out and about (though it helps to have a toothpick or maybe a pen in your pocket) and the sheep need to be finished at home, thanks to the “wool”.
I now feel as if I should tell you a wonderful story about a horse and a sheep, as I don’t have a book about one. But I don’t have a wonderful story either. So you get a Limerick that I just made up. I once got a Girl Guide badge thanks to Limericks!
There once was a horse and a sheep.
Who thought that they couldn’t find sleep.
So they ran up and down
All over the town
Until finally with sleep they did meet.
OR how about:
There once an acorn did fall
It really did not like that at all
Then a little boy came
Who brought it some fame
By making it into a wonderful doll
Fancy making a Limerick up? Go on! I challenge you… leave me one in the comments. You would make my day!
The Craft
A wonderfully straight forward craft. At this time of year many acorns are still green and those that have dropped to the ground are still quite soft.
Take two acorns, and one long thin twig, use you toothpick to create holes and later add cotton wool with glue!
1. Do check which way round your acorn will look best – we like that our animals have little “chests”… Use your toothpick to prick for holes at the bottom of one acorn and one on top. Insert 5 little sticks broken off from your long thin twig. Prick another hole in the “head” acorn and place on top. If you have a horse, add two more little twigs for ears… If you don’t have a toothpick a pen *may* be enough to prick the beginning of the hole and make the insertion of a twig easier.
2. If you are making a sheep, add lots of glue! Red Ted loved making these. Whilst Pip Squeak loved taking hers apart.
3. Draw on eyes.
Ta Da!
Red Ted skipped outside and placed them in the fairy house!
We then made a little car:
But it “disappeared” before I got a photo of it all finished (this shows the “underneath”).
Featured on:
For more Kid’s Craft ideas, click here for a full list. If you have been crafty with your kid’s be it at home, in the kitchen or outdoors, I would love for you to link up:
What others are reading
Acorn Crafts – Nature Crafts for Autumn
Nature Crafts for Autumn
Nature Crafts: Angel
Autumn Crafts: Horse Chesnut Spiders (Kastanienspinne)
Acorn Crafts: Bracelets
Four Seasons Crafts: Autumn Nature Tree
Kids Get Crafty: Chestnut Crafts (Pencil Toppers)
Nature Crafts 101 – 20 Stunning Crafts Using Items Found in Nature
Great idea ! Bean and Ozzy have been stashing acorns in their bedroom from walks all week – now we can do something with them ! I’ll get my thinking cap on and see what we can come up with to make and join in !
Just start making “our” ones… and I bet you will suddenly be making a huge range of other creatures… the kids will start demanding 🙂
LOVE acorn art!!! We made a mini world a while back with acorns and streamers: http://www.se7en.org.za/2010/01/15/se7en-make-a-mini-world-from-streamers-and-acorns
Mcklinky doesn’t think my link for this week is valid… help!!! Roald Dahl Inspired Insects:
http://www.se7en.org.za/2011/09/13/saturday-spot-roald-dahl-inspiration-tray-and-peachy-insect-shadow-bugs…
Have a great week!!!
Se7en – LOVE your acorn world!! It is wonderful as usual 🙂 and have linked up for you!!
Maggy
This is so cute! You are very creative on making animals out of acorn. That’s impressive!
Always a sign that something is fab when it’s whisked off to play with before you get to take a picture!
I love it Maggy, and there are loads of acorns on our way to school, so I’m going to collect some today. xx
Thanks for the Science Sparks links too! xx
Those are adorable! Love the sheep, I’m just smiling at your post!
these are so cute – perfect craft for fall! 🙂
oh my, these are gorgeous! Will definitely make these,thanks!
Aaah you guys are so sweet! Was a little worried you would find them “boring”… but obviously not! *Phew* 🙂
Oh the fairies must have driven off in it!
Your acorn critters are adorable.
*Chuckle* Liz, you are right!!! It was the Fairies… of course!
These are so cute. I am on the hunt for acorns, I don’t know if we’ve got any around.
Could you find some other seasonal berry/ nut/ nature item? These work with e.g. chestnuts too!
So cute! I love seeing the glue all over your acorn animals! And I love seeing how much your little guy is concentrating.
Those acorn animals are so stinkin’ adorable! I love the sheep 🙂
The sheep is sooooo cute!
Great use of acorns, we’ve been collecting them for projects like this, we also find conkers are good for this sort of thing, we used them to make spiders for halloween last year 🙂
Spider Conkers are BRILLIANT! 🙂
I ALWAYS miss the link ups. I must pull my finger out. I am shocking!!
I saw some acorns whilst we were conker picking *rolls eyes* and wondered what they could be used for…. now I know! Fab idea 🙂
Thanks for linking up 😀
Ooh and you can make little men too!!
These are SO cute!!! Definitely want to try these.
Oh, Maggie – these are super cute! We love nature art and craft and have saved our acorns, pine cones and shells from our recent trip, to make something.
BTW, I loved your limericks. The second one especially… 🙂
I too used to make these in school days and bagged some prizes! I still love making for my daughter..!
It’s weird how we suddenly find two people can relate with each other over small and inane things…!
Oooh go on… come back and write me a limerick in the comments!!!! 😉
Your limerick’s definitely count as literature! Thank your for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.
I should have said limerick without an apostrophe.
Your little lamb is just precious!
We’ve been collecting pine cones, acorns, hazel nuts, feathers etc for a similar project for your Autumn Get Crafty.I’m actually getting the kids involved this time.
I finally have a craft with matching books post and can link up! I love all the fall crafts in the linky this week. The acorn animals are so cute. For some reason, i could not copy your badge html, it wouldn’t let me so I had to type it by hand 😉 Thanks for hosting the link up!
Cute acorn critters. You reminded me that I needed to blog about the acorn birds’ nest scenes that my kids made last month.
Tracey – Oooh hooray! So excited that you can take part! 🙂
Aly – look forward to your Autumn Get Crafty creation!!
Mister Jeremey – the nests sound fun! Can’t wait to see them!
I used to do such things at school :)! It was our homework.
Love your acorn animals! We made some porcupines last fall. I’ll have to post a pic later this month after we make some more.
Hi Maggy! Featured these cuties 🙂 http://funfamilycrafts.com/acorn-animals/
Ooh thank you!
Oooh these we cute. Hope you find some acorns soon for more crafty fun.
Thanks for linking to the Sunday showcase.
Thank you! And yes, we are Acorn hunting!!
I did not realize how many of your nature crafts I was using. Thank you for your generous sharing of your talents. My mother was always looking for crafts to keep us busy and entertained. I shared with my children. Thank you for expanding my grand-daughters world so wonderfully. They love the many great awesome hours of fun you have given all of us. Thank You and the other awesome people who have made so many wonderful crafts.
Awwww much appreciate comments like this! Makes me so happy you have been enjoying crafting!!