Holiday Crafts with Conkers...

We've been collecting lots of Conkers from local Horse Chestnut Trees and decided to get crafty with some of them.

Here's some holiday craft ideas with conkers...

A Spooky Spider Conker!

Perfect for Halloween, this little chappy can be hung from the ceiling or simply placed on the table for a lovely autumnal twist on halloween decorations. (Did you know that conkers are meant to keep away real spiders?)

What you Need:

• One Conker
• 4 x silver pipe cleaners cut in half
• 2 x googly eyes
• Glue
• String or silver ribbon (if hanging)

What to Do:

• Get a small screwdriver and make four small holes in each side of the conker.
• Push each of the eight pieces of pipe cleaner into a hole and bend them in the middle to form a leg.
• Glue two eyes on the front of your conker.
• If yo wish to use this as a hanging decoration, pierce a hole down the centre of the conker and thread some string or ribbon through, tying at the bottom.

I know it's early but while you have the craft bits out and you have more conkers to use up why not make some festive Christmas crafts that ill be idea to hang on the tree?

Painted Conker Baubles

What you Need:

• One Conker
• Paint
• Glitter Glue
• String or  ribbon 

What to Do:

• Get a small screwdriver and pierce a hole down the centre of the conker and thread some string or ribbon through, tying at the bottom.
• Lay down some newspaper, get out the paint and glitter glue and encourage your little ones to get creative. Why not get them to paint their name or initial on the conker?
• Lay out to dry and when you come to get the Christmas Tree out in December your little ones will have their very own personalised bauble to hang.

Santa's Head Conker decoration

What you Need:

• One Conker
• Paint
• Glue
• Cotton wool
• Red cardboard, foam or felt
• String or  ribbon 

What to Do:

• Get a small screwdriver and pierce a hole down the centre of the conker and thread some string or ribbon through, tying at the bottom.
• Lay down some newspaper, get out the paint and  encourage your little ones to paint a face on 'Santa'
• Cut a rectangle out from the red card (or foam or felt) and bend into a cone shape, then glue.
• Thread the string or ribbon through the hat so it sits on the top of the conker.
• Glue around the bottom of the hat and then decorate with cotton wool.
• Glue a 'beard shape' around the bottom of the conker and stick on more cotton wool.
• Lay out to dry and when you come to get the Christmas Tree out in December your little ones will have their very own Santa's head conker to hang on it!

Have you been collecting conkers this Autumn? Check out these other fun activities with conkers...

I've linked this post up with Tuesday Tutorials