7 Conker Crafts for Children
Autumn is here, and with it comes one of our favourite things about the season: conkers! Shiny, smooth and wonderfully tactile, they seem to appear everywhere at this time of year, just waiting to be collected by little explorers and turned into something brilliant.
With leaves crunching underfoot, acorns scattered along woodland paths and trees putting on their spectacular autumn display, there’s no better excuse to head outside for a seasonal treasure hunt. Fill your pockets (or perhaps a bucket – little hands can collect a surprising number!) and see what wonderful natural treasures you can discover.
Once you’ve gathered your conkers, bring them home and get creative. They can become painted masterpieces, funny little creatures, woodland animals and all sorts of wonderfully imaginative characters. Add some googly eyes, pipe cleaners, paint or scraps of craft materials and see what your little ones come up with. Then head home, make a cosy cup of something warming and settle down for some crafty fun.
We’ve rounded up 7 brilliant and easy conker crafts for children to get you started.
1) Conker paint rolling
You will need: A few conkers, lots of sheets of paper, paint in different colours and a washing up bowl.
Instructions: Place a sheet of paper in the washing up bowl and squeeze in some paint in various colours. - Throw in your conkers and get them rolling to create a painting. Our tip: try out different colours and different sized conkers to make your paintings look even more interesting.
2) Conker spiders
You will need: For each spider: a conker, a pair of googly eyes and four pipe cleaners + Glue and a small screwdriver to make a hole in the conker.
Instructions: Make a hole in each conker - Cut the pipe cleaners in half to create four “legs”. - Thread the pipe cleaners through the hole to create legs. To finish, stick on the googly eyes – your conker spider is ready.
3) Conker snails
You will need: A conker for each snail, modelling clay in different colours.
Instructions: Roll the modelling clay to create snail’s body and shape the tentacles with your fingers - Place the conker on top to create a shell.
4) Conker Pumpkins
You will need: A few conkers, orange paint (regular paint should be fine, but you can use acrylic paint for better coverage), a green pipe cleaner cut into small pieces, PVA glue, scissors, a paintbrush, a black marker, and googly eyes (optional).
Instructions: Paint the conkers orange. Stick a piece of pipe cleaner on the top of your “pumpkin” to create a stem. Then draw on a spooky face with a black marker or add googly eyes – your conker pumpkins are ready for Halloween!
5) Conker monsters
You will need: A few conkers, googly eyes, and craft feathers (optional).
Instructions: It’s probably the easiest craft idea ever. Simply collect a couple of conkers, add googly eyes, and a colourful feather – your monsters are ready!
6) Conker bats
You will need: A conker for each bat, glue, a piece of black card, a white pencil, scissors, a black marker pen, or googly eyes.
Instructions: Cut the wings out of black card, draw lines on with your white pencil, and glue the conker on top. Draw on eyes with a black marker pen or add googly eyes. Your conker bats are ready!
7) Conker Caterpillar
You will need: Lots of conkers (as many as you want, depending on the length of your caterpillar), googly eyes, a small screwdriver or a skewer to make holes in the conkers, pipe cleaners, glitter glue to decorate (optional).
Instructions: Make holes in the conkers and pull the pipe cleaner through them. Twist at each end to secure. Add googly eyes on the “head”, and decorate with glitter glue.
