Tutorials Archives - Rhubarb and Wren

Conker Creatures

One of our favourite autumn activities is making conker creatures. Like most families, we absolutely love collecting conkers (or horse chestnuts) in the autumn. There’s something so tactile about those smooth, shiny shells that’s just irresistible. A conker hunt means the thrill of finding a shiny conker hiding under crinkly leaves, or revealing hidden treasure by winkling them out from a spiky green casing. Just irresistible!

It takes the kids no time at all to amass a great big pile of them and, as they last for ages, they make a great material for some lovely autumn crafts. We’ve come up with lots of ideas on how to use them, and one activity we often do, is creating these cute Conker Creatures.

A conker creature made with twigs and feathers. — *A friendly conker creature!*

DIY Twig Letters

Whether you want them for ornaments or to use in a party banner, making DIY twig letters is a wonderfully easy craft to do. Here at Rhubarb and Wren, we’ve been making them for forest school parties, seasonal events, and even as individual letter ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree and decorate presents!

Want to make some too? Read on to find out how!

How to make twig letters by Rhubarb and Wren — *Making these wool wrapped twig letters is easy, and you can use them for a whole host of things.*

DIY Soot Sprites

Soot Sprites, or Susuwatari, are among our favourite Studio Ghibli characters. These little gremlins are little black balls with big eyes and (sometimes) long, thin limbs.

Because of their simple shape and appearance, you can make a DIY Soot Sprite quickly and easily. All you need is to make a simple pompom!

My kids absolutely adore making these, and our house is becoming as soot sprite-ful as Mei and Satsuki’s attic…

If you’ve never made a pompom, or only know the old cardboard-donut method, never fear. We’ve got a much better method. In fact, it’s the best, quickest and most mind blowingly-easy way to make pompoms you’ll ever find.

So you’ll soon be able to whip up a few DIY Soot Sprites in a matter of minutes. Read on to find out how.

DIY Conker Eyeballs!

Quick and easy autumn craft that’s perfect for Halloween.

These DIY conker eyeballs are a great way to use up those slowly-wrinkling conkers that the kids collect in the autumn.

A simple and fun autumn craft, it’s easy enough for preschoolers to do and gruesomely creative enough for big kids to enjoy too, which makes it a marvellous Halloween activity for siblings.

So whether they want to make zombie eyeballs or monster eyes, read on to get our top tips and tricks for this Halloween!

DIY conker eyeballs - perfect for an easy Halloween craft! — *Use up their old conkers to make these spooky Halloween eyeballs with your kids!*

Paper Fireworks – Hand Kites

A Bonfire Night fireworks craft for kids!

Guy Fawkes Night is, without a doubt, my favourite night of the year. So, come autumn, I build up the anticipation for the kids by doing a fireworks craft or two. These ‘paper fireworks’ hand kites are one of our absolute favourite things to make.

Not only are they easy enough for even pre-schoolers to do, you also get to play with them afterwards! And yes, they are an awful lot safer than the real thing…

Paper fireworks craft for kids - making hand kites — *These paper fireworks are great fun to make, and as they’re also hand kites the kids can have fun whizzing them around too – just like the real thing!*

So whether for Bonfire Night on the 5th of November, or for Diwali, or the 4th of July, New Year’s Eve, Eid Al Adha, Chinese New Year or your own personal favourite firework night, read on to find out how to do this fabulous fireworks craft!

How to make air dry clay pendants

Homemade bee necklaces for a kids treasure hunt!

These adorable bee air dry clay pendants were really easy to create and make sweet little bee necklaces. However, instead of wearing them, we turned them into treasure for a buzzy bee hunt that keep the kids busy over the holidays, and it worked wonderfully!

How to make clay bee pendants to use in an awesome woodland treasure hunt. — *How to make simple but bee-utiful bee pendants from air dry clay!*

Our children couldn’t get enough of these adorable bees, so read on to find out how you can make them too.

Golden bee diy air dry clay pendant on tree stump — *These little golden bees make beautiful necklaces, but worked wonderfully as hidden treasure on a woodland treasure hunt.*

How to Make a Bug-tastic Nature Explorer Bag

Have you noticed how a walk with the kids is never ‘just’ a walk? To aid my kids on their outdoor adventures, I’ve made them a super-simple nature explorer bag each. Big enough for their supplies, but slouchy and soft enough not to get in the way of their play.

Want to make one too? Read on for the instructions!

DIY kids nature explorer bags - simple sewing project — *Just right for little adventurers – simple-to-make, easy-to-wear nature explorer bags!*

How to make a (cardboard) real magnifying glass!

Make your own real magnifying glass (the cardboard version)

Whether they’re exploring the world around them or role-playing as adventurers or spies, kids love playing with a real magnifying glass.

This cardboard, handmade, magnifying glass is just perfect for them to use, and they can decorate it themselves too.

Read on to find out how to make them.

A real magnifying glass made from cardboard — *A home-made magnifying glass that’s quick and easy to make.*

How to make a real magnifying glass

Make your own magnifying glass

A magnifying glass has to be one of the most useful, thought-provoking, and inspiring tools you can give to a child. This hand-made diy magnifying glass is both pretty and functional, and each one is also completely unique.

And forget the kids, adults love these too!