As early as September, the chestnuts begin to fall from the tree and cover the ground with a natural, brown carpet. During this time, you can plan a walk in nature with the children and collect lots of chestnuts for exciting fall craft projects.
But what can you make with chestnuts? In this article we have collected many wonderful craft ideas for children and adults that are popularNatural material for creative projectsinsert.
Make autumn decorations with chestnuts
If you have collected the chestnuts while they are still soft, it is best to wait a few days before you start crafting. Spread the chestnuts out on a kitchen towel so they can dry more quickly. When they have become harder, they are ready for making various decorations, animals and little men.
Adults can use chestnuts to make pretty autumn decorations for the home, for example in the form of a wreath, a garland or a beautiful decoration for the table. In addition, any other materials can be used to make the decoration original and unique. Those tooCombination with other natural materials, such as acorns, autumn leaves, beechnuts, etc. looks wonderful in autumn decorations for your home.
If you want to make a door wreath, garland or table centerpiece with chestnuts, you can consider two different approaches. In the first variant, you can use the hot glue gun to glue the chestnuts and other natural materials together or to a template and create the desired decoration. In this case, the materials used cannot be used for any further projects.
The other option for making autumn decorations with chestnuts involves drilling small holes in the fruit. In this way, you can easily make beautiful garlands for wall or window decoration. You still need a string that you thread through the drilled holes. You can use a pipe cleaner as a needle to make threading easier. If you choose this option, you can use the chestnuts for another craft project next year.
Make your own animals
You can use chestnuts and other natural materials to create imaginative figures and animals that are particularly popular with children. Toothpicks and matches are useful for this, especially if you want to make more complex animals. These are perfect for creating legs and special features on some animals.
It's easier to work with matches and toothpicks if you pre-drill the holes for them. A corkscrew works best for small holes like this. It is best for parents to take on this task so that children do not injure themselves while doing crafts. The cute little men and animals can also be spiced up with any materials, such as colorful muffin cases, pompoms, googly eyes and basically anything else you like.
You can make various insects and small animals with your children using chestnuts. Just like a garland, a small caterpillar can be made from the popular natural material. However, if you don't want to drill the chestnuts, you can use modeling clay as a binding agent. Different colors and colorful color combinations are perfect for this. Of course, the children can also make faces and legs out of polymer clay.
Another idea for crafts that adults and children can make from chestnuts are various birds and insects with wings. The chestnuts can be used to design the body and materials such as paper or felt are really good for making the wings. Real feathers are also a great idea for this.
These little sheep present themselves as another lovely idea. A head made of small chestnut is paired with a white pompom as a body. The easiest way to create the sheep's legs is to use toothpicks.
Although chestnuts are collected in the fall, they can also be used for various craft projects in any season and for any occasion. You can combine the natural material with materials from summer, such as these cute mice. Here, small mussel shells serve as ears, which are attached to the chestnut with hot glue.
You don't necessarily need any additional materials or tools to make crafts with chestnuts. The small fruits of the chestnut tree can be fun to paint and decorate with acrylic paints and brushes. Whether it's funny little men or your favorite animals, you and your creativity decide.
Decoration for Halloween
Halloween is without a doubt one of the most popular autumn festivals for young and old. The spookiest night of the year also requires a suitable decoration, which you can also make with chestnuts. These can be quickly and easily transformed into horrible eyes, pumpkins and evil faces. Of course, the children can also join in. It's super easy to make a door wreath with eyeballs if you paint the chestnuts as eyes and then attach them to a Styrofoam wreath.
The wreath can be further decorated with the spiky shells of the chestnuts or with some autumn leaves. Of course, it's not just scary eyes that are suitable for the Halloween door wreath. You can also use the chestnuts to create evil faces, ghosts, etcMake batsand integrate them into the decoration.
Pumpkinsare without a doubt the most famous decorations for autumn and Halloween. Not only the real fruits, but also other materials that are decorated as pumpkins are an excellent idea for decoration. You can also make the popular autumn motifs with chestnuts. You will also need orange acrylic paint, pipe cleaners, a black pen for the grimaces and, if desired, googly eyes and glue. Simply dip the chestnuts into the paint, let them dry thoroughly andpaint the faceson. You then make the stems out of a green pipe cleaner and stick them to the top of the chestnut.
Craft ideas for the winter
If you have some chestnuts left over from the autumn decoration, you can also use them for a beautiful winter decoration. With white-painted chestnuts you canmake pretty snowmenand their original color is perfect for making lovely reindeer.
To make Rudolf the little reindeer, you need a chestnut, two thin twigs, googly eyes and brown paper for the ears. Since Rudolf is known for his red nose, you can paint it on or imitate it with a small red pompom.
