Conker fun
Autumn…..we love it. Conkers…..great old fashioned childhood fun!
The other week we went conker hunting , the children loved it. I promised them we could do some conker crafts and that I would show them how to play conkers.
Today, we have come to their Nana and Grandads for a few days, so I thought it was a good opportunity to introduce some conker fun. Here’s what we did:
Conker Caterpillars
We drilled holes in the conkers, then threaded them onto a pipe cleaner (great hand eye coordination exercise). We tied a knot each end of the pipe cleaner, wound another pipe cleaner round one end for the antenna and stuck stickers on for the eyes.
The children enjoyed this so much, they wanted to make something else…….
Conker people
We then went on to make conker people. We twisted two pipe cleaners together to make a body and legs, threaded the conkers onto them. We added another pipe cleaner for the arms and threaded more conkers before adding a head. We stuck googly eyes on and tied some string to make it a bit puppet like.
The children had loads of fun making these, I then thought it was time to introduce the game of conkers……
Game of conkers
I grew up playing conkers every autumn. Even though my children are perhaps a little young for conker games, I wanted to show them how you can take something from nature and make it into a game.
We threaded our conkers onto string and tied a knot at the end. I showed them and explained how you need to hit the other persons conker, til it breaks.
I then proceeded to have fun playing a game against my mum. The children watched excitedly. They thought it was hilarious how we kept missing each others conkers, then when we did finally manage to hit them, the children fell about laughing! We weren’t very good at the game, but it was great fun and brought back a lot of happy memories.
The children wanted to have a go, so we helped them. BB loved it. They didn’t manage to break any conkers, but had a lot of fun trying.
I love conkers and I think you can see from the photos, my children now love conkers too. I find it fantastic, the way you can enjoy getting out in the fresh air, collecting nature, then bring it back home and create lots of great crafts and have loads of fun playing games with lots of laughter and giggles.
They are just fantastic and so creative great idea, they look awesome x #pocolo
Thank you, we had lots of fun
They look amazing. Must make them with Thomas when he is older
#pocolo
Yes, have a go, we had loads of fun
They are brilliant! No wonder they wanted to make more – love them!
Thanks, we loved them
I love the conker caterpillars. Lots of good mother points to you!
My girls enjoyed playing with the caterpillars too
Those conker caterpillars are brilliant!
#pocolo
Thank you, we loved them too
Ah – I loved conkers when I was a kid. These are fab!
I loved conkers too, so was really desperate to show my children them
They look great!! So much fun x
Kids always love to collect so many conkers so this is a really creative way of then playing with all of them.
#pocolo
I am loving the conker caterpillars! they are super !
Thanks for explaining how to play conkers, I have always wondered! It was never a feature of my childhood…
What a load of brilliant ideas! I love the conker caterpillars
Thanks for linking to PoCoLo x
I am loving the conker caterpillars !
Looks like great fun, the conker caterpillars are fab x
Thanks, we had loads of fun
I love the conker caterpillars! We have a big basket of conkers lying around, we will have to give that a try
Oh yes, give it a go, they are so easy
They look so much fun – we have recently been to the park and managed to find lots of conkers. Next time I should try and make something with little man! #pocolo x
Ah, yes give it a go, it’s great fun x
I love those conked people! Just brilliant. Fabulous for fine motor skill development too. Thanks so much for sharing with the Monday parenting pin it party
Thank you, they are so easy to do, but quite effective & the children can play with them after too
I remember doing all these things with conkers too, lovely to see the next generation enjoying the same fun. Popping over from Magic Moments
Yeah, I want to pass all these things onto my children x
Thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments … i so love this post x
Thank you
What a great idea! I’d never have thought of doing something like this with the conkers!
#MagicMoments
Thanks, thee children (and me) loved it
What a fab idea! I never thought about doing any of those things, but will try them for sure now. Thanks
#PoCoLo
Thank you, they are very easy to do and lots of fun x
and now i know exactly what to do with our mountain of conkers!
Great, have fun!
I love these caterpillars!! Amazing skill practice and really creative. Did you use a small hand drill? I will think about doing this in the classroom when I am back at work.
#magicmoments
Thanks, yes, we used a small hand drill. It was very easy, yet so effective
I love your conker people! I’m also slightly envious because we haven’t found any yet! #MagicMoments
Aw no, it took me ages to find a conker tree, keep looking x
Great idea! I’ll be trying this one for sure! #pinterestparty
Thank you, hope you have fun trying
You seem to have had lots of fun. I do like the conker crafts you have done #MagicMoments
Thank you, it was great fun