Pine Cone Creatures: An Adorable Craft for Children and Adults

Want to encourage your children's creativity now that they are getting a little older? Or create some adorable Pine Cone Creatures yourself? This idea is good for children that are mature enough to handle scissors and a glue gun on their own. Your children may have grown out of playing dress up and coloring in coloring books but you still want them to do something creative, something hands on, that doesn't involve a game controller. Why not use nature and a glue gun and let them create these adorable Pine Cone Creatures?

First, you will need to gather your supplies and most important, your imagination. We went for a walk in the park and collected pine cones, sticks, leaves and some acorns. From the store we bought googly eyes, pipe cleaners and a bag of clearance potpourri; full of things to use and fragrant as well! We also used a glue gun and a few other items we had around the house.

Next, we spread all of our supplies out on the table; plugged in the glue gun and let our imaginations take control. Before we knew it half of the neighborhood kids were gathered around the table with us, which is when I snuck out for a well-deserved mom recess! Luckily, my children are old enough to use a glue gun unsupervised.

Rumor has it that when making crafts with pine cones, you should first bake the cones. Place them on a foil-lined cookie sheet for about an hour at 180 degrees. This will kill any bugs or spider mites on the cones. This also allows the seeds to fall out and the sap to dry up. Or you can buy pine cones from the store. The cinnamon scented ones add a nice touch to this craft. We used some of each.

My original intent was to create fall woodland creatures using fall leaves as wings, pine cones as the body and acorns as heads. Unfortunately, since we live in Florida mature acorns were impossible to find when I needed them. I had a little bit of luck with some of the potpourri items but the kid's creations were way better than mine. They did not feel constricted by the season. We ended up with snowmen, surfer dudes, dancing girls and even a dog!

The kids had so much fun making this project that they made extras to use as teacher's gifts and Christmas presents. So, if you are looking for an inexpensive way to encourage your children's creativity or if you want to make some adorable pine cone creatures yourself just follow the guidelines above.