The apple harvest is in full swing, and we’ve been inspired by all the crab apples lying like green -gold coins on the ground. It can be fun to do block printing with these, either as an adult activity or with children. We did this, beginning by cutting horizontally across the apple to reveal the star. Coated carefully with dryish paint (such as acrylics – these leave the fabric slightly stiffer but will not usually wash out) you can print flags, placemats, banners, cards and so on. Here are some examples : https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/learning-toolkit-blog/how-to-use-fruits-veggies-to-make-stamps.html )
In the story of The Old Apple Man, (from The Children’s Forest (Hawthorn Press, 2019)) there are good ideas for using health-giving plants, such as ‘hips and haws’ (rosehips and hawthorn berries). We gathered some rosehips and hawthorn berries to make this recipe https://www.modernbotany.com/new-blog/hipsandhaws for a tonic which is deemed good for protecting against colds, being rich in vitamin C. Ours ended up rather thick, but with water makes a tasty winter cordial. The Class 2 children, rather to my surprise, decided it was delicious !
A decorative pen-stand using seed heads
Last year Little Acorns parents made collaged greetings cards, using pressed seed heads glued onto snipped up old book pages. Here is a 3D craft with seed heads, using polystyrene blocks from packaging, PVA glue, and paper – I used newsprint. This can either be a decoration, or, with some bigger holes (made with the same bamboo kebab stick) a decorative pen-stand for some special person’s desk.
The steps are :
- Gather seed heads
- Gift-wrap a cuboid of polystyrene that is coated with PVA
- Make holes in the block using a kebab stick, and insert seed heads with tallest at the back.
If it is to hold pens, make a larger hole near the front for each item you wish to insert.
The heights and forms of the seed heads cast wonderful shadows in the afternoon sunlight
