We went for our weekly Sunday Family walk to the park today and we were all amazed at the lovely colours of the autumn leaves. Seeing those lovely amazing golden colours and the crispy leaves and conkers on the ground, I could picture in my mind these “leaf people” for an arts and craft project with Grace.

I was well prepared as I already thought ahead and brought a carrier bag ready to collect some Conkers and the lovely array of autumn leaves.

After our stroll around the park and river we headed home to do some Autumn Arts ‘n’ Crafts. We made conker snakes, leaf people and animals and even come mini acorn people.

Here’s a few ideas of some Autumn Crafts you could do with your little 1’s. This would also work well if your a Beaver or Cub leader for example.

1) Have your own Conker championship

Collect some conkers, drill a hole straight through the middle, thread some string or an old shoe lace with a knot at the end…..That’s it!!

Oh and no cheating and toughening up the conker by baking it, soaking it in vinegar or coating it in clear varnish- honest Gov, I’ve never used any of those ;0)

Rules of play:-

Two players, each with a conker threaded on a piece of string or a shoelace, take it in turns to hit each other’s conker, until there is one conker left.

The first player holds out their conker at arm’s length, hanging down, ready to be hit. The string should be wrapped around his or her hand to stop it being dropped.

They must hold the conker still as the other player hits it. If it accidentally swings, the second player can steady it before they take a strike.

The second player then wraps the string of his or her conker around her hand, draws it back and takes an aim.

He or she lets go of the conker as they swing their arm in an arc and tries to hit the other person’s conker.

The first player then has a go at hitting the other player’s conker and they take it in turns.

NOTE: If the player deliberately moves his or her conker while waiting for it be hit, the other player is allowed another go!

Conker scoring

If a conker has never been used before and succeeds in breaking another unused conker, it scores one and becomes a ‘one-er’.

If, in the next game it breaks another new conker, it becomes a ‘two-er’ and so on.

If the conker that broke it had already broken others, then the scores of BOTH conkers are added together and added to the winner. So if you used a three-er on a two-er, then the score awarded to the winning conker will be five

2)Pumpkin carving

Most supermarkets are selling Pumpkins super cheap, I’ve seen them at the moment for 2 for £5.

I love Pumpkin carving and creating scary faces on them.

Don’t forget to keep what you’ve scooped out and make a Pumpkin soup. You can even roast the seeds and eat them.

3) Chutney making

This is a real “homely” activity using the left overs of root vegetables. Onion Chutney is lovely. Start collecting your old glass jam jars and start making some Chutney to give away to friends,family and neighbours for Christmas presents.

4) Autumn leaf collage

Visit your local park or even collect the leaves whilst walking to school. Collect leaves of all different shapes, sizes and colours. Dry them out and see what pictures you can create with them.

5) Leaf rubbing

Rub a crayon, pastel pencil, colored pencil or marker on its side and gently color on the layered paper over the leaf.

The crisper and older a leaf is, the more difficult it may be to get all of the features of the leaf on a paper.

6)Autumn tree painting – using ur hand as the tree.

Paint the palm of your hand brown and then splat it down on some paper and use it to create the tree. Then using autumn colours. Red, orange, yellow, light brown, paint on leaves onto your hand print.

You could even do potato printing and carve a leaf on the potato and make leaf prints.

7)Twigs and leaves photo frame.

Whilst having your family stroll, collect some twigs and leaves of different shapes and sizes, dry them out if required. Then stick them using PVA glue to some paper and create a picture frame shape. It doesn’t just have to be a rectangle shape. Once the glue is dry, stick your family photo in the middle of the frame and Hey presto! You’ve make an autumn photo frame.

8)Make your own paper Poppy badge/wreath for Remembrance Sunday

In the U.K. We remember the fallen soldiers from not just world war 1 and world war 2, but also other wars such as the Falkland war and the Iraq war.

People wear a red poppie and a sign of Remembrance leading up to November 11th.

You could create your own Poppy or make.a Poppy wreath to lay. There’s many ways to make them. Some.made our if crepe paper, or card, I’ve even seen.a Poppy wreath make out of egg cartons. It’s a great arts and craft activity to do and it’s a great form of upcycling.

9)Make your own family out of Leaves.

Using dry leaves that you’ve collected, lay them down and see if you can create your family out if leaves. Draw on faces, hair, glasses for example…. Oh and don’t forget to make your pet aswell.

10) Make your own homemade kite.

Who doesn’t love flying a kite. Whether it’s an all singing all dancing stunt kite, to kite surfing on the beach all the traditional diamond kite being flown in the local park. It’s great fun to see the kite flying high up in the sky and you trying your best not to get it caught in the tree.

But have you ever made your own kite? It’s a simple activity using an old plastic carrier back 2 canes or branches and a length of string.

We also made a snake out of conkers 

And also some Acorn people 

I hope I’ve given you some autumn inspiration to get creative in my list of autumn arts n crafts activities.

If you try and please take a photo and show me.

Or if you know any other fun autumn activities, comment below and let me know.