Pinecones offer a great base for animal crafts.
Bring a bit of nature to the craft table with pinecones. Transform a plain pinecone into a fun animal figure by using a few supplies and lots of imagination. Animal designs can be as simple or elaborate as deemed appropriate for the age group. The finished project could be displayed as a seasonal decoration or given as a gift to someone special.
Supplies
Use colorful feathers to make the pinecone turkey.
Costs for supplies to make pinecone animals are minimal. Pinecones can be gathered outdoors for free or purchased at most craft supply stores. Depending on the animal you are making, other supplies might include construction paper, craft foam, feathers, craft pom-poms, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, yarn, felt, scissors, a pencil and tacky glue or a low heat glue gun.
Animals
You can create just about any animal you can think of but some popular choices include an owl, mouse and turkey. Create the owl by gluing googly craft eyes to black eyelash trim and attaching the whole piece to the upper half of a pinecone. Attach a small piece of yellow triangular felt for the beak. Make a mouse by cutting two ears from white felt and adhering them to the top sides of the pinecone. Attach two googly eyes, a pink pom-pom for the nose and a piece of white yarn for the tail. Make a turkey with feathers, googly eyes and felt or construction paper for the wattle.
Assembly
Help prevent big spills by putting glue in individual containers.
To make assembly easy for younger children, precut as many items as possible such as the mouse ears, turkey wattle or the owl's nose. Provide a finished sample for children to follow. Instead of having children squirt glue straight from the bottle, put tacky glue into small individual containers and provide a craft stick for spreading the glue. If using a hot glue gun, be sure adequate adult supervision is available.
Other Pinecone Crafts
Pinecones also make great bird feeders. Tie a string to the top of the pinecone, cover the pinecone in peanut butter, roll it in bird seed and hang it in a tree. Add a touch of nature to the Thanksgiving table by using pinecones as place card holders. For an easy ornament, cover a pinecone with glue, roll in glitter and add a string.
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