Crafts from natural materials do-it-yourself: beautiful and light ideas

Summer and autumn crafts from natural materials are the most popular theme for the development of creative skills among preschoolers and younger students. Some adults are also keen on making dry bouquets, panels, three-dimensional compositions, jewelry, Christmas-tree decorations, creating true works of art. Acorns and needles, pine cones and chestnuts, feathers and egg shells, moss and birch bark, buckwheat and walnut shells, wood and seashells, river pebbles and yellow maple leaves are used.

Tools, additional materials for crafts

In addition to the freshly collected natural gifts, herbaria, to create all kinds of souvenirs, you will need some of the tools available in every home. These include:

• sewing needles;
• pencil;
• ruler;
• sharp awl;
• scissors;
• brushes for glue, paints;
• stacks for plasticine, plastics;
• clamps or pegs;
• thick books for drying leaves.

Additional materials:

• plasticine;
• plastic;
• threads;
• PVA glue, glue stick;
• white and color paper;
• corrugated cardboard, plain cardboard;
• flexible wire;
• fishing line;
• toothpicks;
• matches;
• gouache;
• spray paint;
• cotton wool;
• ribbons;
• beads, sequins;
• felt.

It is recommended that babies be given for self-use special scissors with rounded ends, glue stick, instead of liquid glue. Needles, other sharp objects are used only under the supervision of adults, toxic, strongly smelling paint and varnish compositions are prohibited to use.

How to prepare natural materials for crafts

What can be used to create crafts:

• vegetables, fruits, berries;
• "Helicopter" maple, "earrings" ash;
• Poplar fluff;
• grapevine;
• immortelle flowers, roses, lavender, yarrow;
• fruits of chestnut, oak, Physalis;
• cones of conifers;
• lupine and sunflower seeds;
• whole peas, beans, corn;
• oatmeal, buckwheat;
• ears of cereals, straw, reeds, sisal;
• shell pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts;
• coconut, peanut shell;
• shells of mollusks, snails;
• scale, air bubble of large fish;
• feathers, eggshell wild, domestic birds;
• fallen needles of a hedgehog, porcupine;
• leaves of maple, oak, lilac, aspen, fern;
• alder bumps;
• stones of pumpkin, apple, watermelon;
• peel of lemon, orange, grapefruit;
• tree fungus;
• bark of birch, willow, oak;
• moss, algae;
• twigs, sticks, snags, roots, woody cuts;
• pebbles, coarse sand.

For a finished work for a long time to have a beautiful appearance, not to become covered with mold, not to deform, the materials for it need not only be collected, but also properly prepared - dried. Leaves, cereals dry between the pages of thick books. Birch bark, oak bark, other elements, which should be flat, are dried under a sheet of hardboard, with a load placed on it. Sprigs with hawthorn berries, mountain ash, stalks with poppy boxes, lunik fruits, helihrizum flowers, yarrow, mordovnik, dried in a suspended state. Flower heads can be dried and buried in a container with sand. Straw, stems of angelica, cow parsnip, dried under a canopy in the open air, turning over from time to time. Forest moss, acorns, cones, chestnuts, fir legs, laid out on a newspaper in a dark cool place, turn over every day. Fish bubbles, scales, egg shells, snail shells are washed, dried in the shade.

Compositions and crafts made from seeds of exotic plants brought from faraway countries have an original appearance.

Chestnuts

Horse chestnut fruits are easy to find on the streets of any city, they ripen in August and September. For crafts, chestnuts of various sizes are chosen, but preferably a regular, rounded shape, dark brown. You can dry them, spreading a thin layer on newspapers, without access to sunlight, in a cool place. The process will take 10-15 days.

Drying chestnuts in a hot oven is not recommended at all - their skin is cracking, the fruits practically lose their appearance.

Acorns

Acorns are the fruits of the oak, they differ slightly in shape, size, color in different breeds. Gather them in late August - early October, you should choose the whole, not damaged by insects, with no signs of germination. Freshly harvested fruit is washed under running water, if necessary, brushed, dried on a towel, paper. Next, you need to heat the oven to 50-70 degrees, put acorns on a baking sheet, leaving the door ajar. The process will take 90-120 minutes, during which time they need to be mixed at least three or four times.

From acorns you can make funny figures of men, animals, decorate photo frames. Original look "scattering" curtains of oak fruit, wreaths on the wall, crockery for the dollhouse.

In the village of acorns, some other plant materials are dried on top of the Russian stove.

Cones, needles

Pine, fir, cedar, larch, alder cones are harvested in the spring or in the middle of autumn. If the seeds are still covered with scales, it means that the bumps are wet, after drying they will open. Before drying, the fruit is soaked in a solution of vinegar with water to remove insects, cotton swabs and alcohol are used to get rid of the resin. If it is required that the bump be closed, before drying it is completely dipped in carpenter's glue.

Dry cones can be:

• on the street under a canopy - the raw material is placed in a thin layer on a newspaper in trellised boxes, nets, baskets, left for 15-20 days;
• in a frying pan or pan - the oven is heated to a low temperature, but the door is not closed, the time is about an hour;
• in the microwave - a large plate is taken, covered with a paper napkin, cones are placed on top, the process will take less than five minutes, the process must be controlled.
  The needles of spruce are dried directly from the branches, in the form of "fir paws", in a suspended form. Pine needles can be torn off if only they are needed for crafts. Slow drying under canopy is preferred.

The nuts

Walnuts are usually sold already dried, their shells are used for handicrafts, which are separated from the kernel with scissors, since the hammer crumbles the nut almost completely. Fresh fruits are peeled - it is better to do it with gloves so as not to stain your hands. Nuts are dried in the open air on a tarpaulin, for two or three days, if the weather is dry, sunny, in bad weather - in the attic, trellis racks, but the process will take up to a week. A faster way, no more than two hours - an oven, a rustic stove, a special vegetable dryer.

For the manufacture of handicrafts are also used forest, pine nuts, peanut shells, pistachios.

Leaves, flowers, seeds

The leaves of various trees are harvested in summer or autumn in dry weather. Dried for a week or two, putting in an old book, tightly pressed on top of a few more. It can be dried quickly by inserting between two sheets of thick paper, ironed with a hot iron on both sides. The most commonly used maple, rowan, oak, birch, aspen, currant, fern, nettle.

Seeds of dill, star anise, peppercorns, coriander, mustard, pumpkin, zucchini, sunflower, watermelon, apples, wild cucumber, apricot, peach, dried on a newspaper in a dark ventilated place. Peas, beans, beans, lupine pre-rid of the pods. All seeds can be processed in a vegetable dryer or on a baking sheet in the oven.

Bulk flowers, such as roses, asters, garden immortelle, dried in the sand - it is desirable to pre-heat it in the oven or in a frying pan. Then the sand is poured into any container, the buds are placed on top, gently filled with the remaining sand, left for three to seven days. Flowers for panels (lilies of the valley, chamomile, lilac) are dried as leaves.

Grass, moss, poplar fluff

Poplar fluff is harvested at the beginning of summer, but in a dry, cool place it can be stored all year round. It is important to carefully protect it from possible fire - the material is very flammable. Snow is made of fluff for panels, bulk compositions for the New Year.

Moss (sphagnum, kukushkin flax, etc.) are gently squeezed, eliminating excess moisture, dried on a newspaper at room temperature or outside, under a canopy in dry weather. Grass, straw, lichen dried almost the same.

From moss often do a miniature forest edge, overgrown grass.

Bark

The bark, which should be flat, is cleaned of dirt, dried, wrapped in paper, pressed against several thick books, other goods, weighing at least five to seven kilograms. To destroy the parasites, the bark is boiled in boiling water for a few minutes.

It is better to cut the bark from healthy, strong trees, for which such manipulation will not be excessively traumatic, leading to death.

Twigs, sticks, wooden cuts

It is recommended to harvest wood cuts when the movement of juices is minimal - from October to February. Then the drying of wood does not take much time. For the speedy removal of the intercellular juice, the wood is boiled, then laid out in a cool room on a concrete floor or several layers of newspapers, turned over every couple of days, dried in an oven or on a battery two weeks later. Immediately put in a hot environment can not - cuts cracked. You must first remove the bark.

Branches, sticks, snags after collecting carefully inspect, remove damaged rot, pests, and then dried in a warm dry place, without access to direct rays of the sun. Sprigs with buds are harvested in spring, roots are dug out, trying not to damage, cleaned from the ground, dried for one to three weeks, depending on the thickness.

Pebbles

Stones are cleaned from sand, ground with a stiff brush, washed with water, sorted by shape, color, size. It is allowed to dry pebbles in any convenient way - on newspapers, a battery, in an oven, a hair dryer, etc. Stones with natural holes are used to make jewelry, all kinds of amulets.

Seashells

Sea, river, lake, snail, bivalve mollusk shells are brushed and boiled in water to remove all organic remains. You can dry them on a newspaper at room temperature. Shells are great for creating marine compositions, decoration frames, mirrors.

Sand

Sand for crafts is preferred large river, but if this is problematic to get, anyone will approach - from the nearest construction site, from the sandbox. It is sifted through a fine sieve to remove all excess, washed in water, dried, spread out in a thin layer on a baking sheet in the oven, stirring occasionally.

Eggshell

Eggs of chicken, duck, ostrich, quail, thrush, parrot, etc. are suitable for creating handicrafts. To prepare the shells, they must be freed from the inside of the yolk and white. To do this, on both sides of the egg small holes are made, after which the contents are blown into a cup or sucked out with a large syringe. Then the inside is washed with water.

A great mosaic will come out of the broken eggshell, if you paint the pieces in different colors, stick them on a prepared surface.

Feathers

Fallen bird feathers are preferably taken from domestic ones, since wild ravens, pigeons, ducks, and other birds often suffer from infectious diseases. It is not necessary to wash the feathers, you can dry it with a regular hairdryer, simultaneously fluffing it. Often on sale there are already processed feathers of exotic birds - peacocks, parrots.

Fruits, vegetables, berries

Rowan berries, wild rose dried on the twigs, hung on a rope, or laid in a single layer on the newspaper in a well-ventilated place. In the pumpkin, squash, squash cut a small hole, wipe the inside with alcohol, stuffed with newspapers, leave for 10-20 days, depending on size. Dry vegetables, fruits, citrus peels can be in the oven at low temperature, in the shade on canvas, newsprint.

How to store natural materials for crafts

It is recommended to store any natural materials in a dry, cool place, away from direct sunlight. To do this, use:

• rag bags;
• carton boxes;
• thread mesh;
• wicker basket, newspaper tubes;
• plastic containers (for stones, fragile shells, egg shells).

Recommended humidity for storage is 12-18%, temperature is 9-18 degrees.

Ideas for kindergarten

In the manufacture of the panel, you should consider the color of leaves, flowers, herbs and other things - on a dark background, the light details look good and vice versa. Here are some simple ideas, described step by step, for the little ones:

• an owl made of beans - an outline of an owl is drawn on a sheet of colored cardboard, its inside is glued over with beans. Eyes are made from dry daisies, a piece of bark is glued on one side - it will be a tree, twigs with leaves of oak and rowan are attached to it. The wings and legs of the owl are also made of leaves;
• hedgehog - made of fir cones, to which are attached clay feet, eyes, nose, mushrooms;
• chamomile - you need to take the stalks of reed, pumpkin seeds. Yellow middles are made of plasticine, sunflower seeds are inserted on the sides, then the head is mounted on the stem;
• Matryoshka - to work you will need a pebble, in shape resembling a matryoshka, gouache paints that draw a face, pens, a pupa's scarf;
• forest in a box - a box of a suitable size is taken, moss and pebbles are glued to the bottom, trees are made of branches, which are fixed with the help of plasticine. Three bears are made of large, medium and small "fluffed-up" cones, gluing plasticine eyes, noses, and ears out of half-heads of acorns;
• autumn bouquet - you need a jar with a lid. A snag is glued to the inside of the lid, a twig, to which colorful leaves of maple, birch, oak are fastened, all sorts of dried flowers, are neatly covered on top with a can, twisted;
• horses and donkeys are their bodies, heads are made of acorns, legs are made of matches, which are attached to holes made with an awl. The ears are made of ash "earrings", eyes-noses - from lupine seeds;
• spiders - made of chestnuts, acorn heads, bent in the middle of toothpicks. If desired, boots with plasticine or plastic are molded onto eight spider legs;
• dragonfly - wings are made of maple "helicopters", eyes of lupine, the body itself of clay or a suitable stick;
• turtle - for the manufacture of crafts need walnut shell, clay, from which the body is made, eyes from small seeds.

Ready for the exhibition, flat work, to save them for a long time, placed in a frame under the glass, voluminous - treated with hairspray or acrylic from a cylinder.

Ideas crafts for elementary school

Products for the school exhibition a la "Hello, autumn!" easy and simple to do with children. The fantastic world in a miniature, will settle down on a board, a large tree sawn. Baba-yaga and the goblin will drink tea here. Their bodies are made of pine cones, their heads are made of nuts, their hair, their beards are made of straw, their arms and legs are made of wire, and the headgear is made of cloth scraps, linen thread wound on a cork from a bottle. The table at which the characters sit, is made from a small cut of the tree, dishes - from the caps of acorns of different sizes. The surrounding landscape is decorated with moss, a hut is constructed from thin rods.

Swans are made of polymer clay of white or black color, bird feathers are small. The body of a swan is made of a spruce cone, painted with white paint, a chicken egg, with feathers glued to it, and pistachio shells.

A panel with a little squirrel is created from red pine bark - the head, legs, hips, back, and tail are alternately cut out. All parts are glued to the corrugated cardboard, flat wooden, tinted with acrylic, stain, the claws are made from fennel seeds, eyes, nose - from the seeds of lupine.

Chanterelle, wolf, another similar beast, are glued from the leaves of ash, deer horns are made of oak leaves. A small caterpillar is created from large peas strung on a wire, a fishing line, a string.

Cuckoo, black grouse, made of two large, but not fully unfolded pine cones, leaves, painted with gouache, ink. The cuckoo is also made of motley black and white feathers of some breeds of hens and parrots.

The volumetric figure of a lesser worker is made of an inverted fir cone or a small pumpkin. His hat is made of maple leaves, the larger figures are decorated with hats woven from straw, wicker, and textile materials.

In addition to "school" crafts, you can create original interior decorations from forest materials: an old umbrella is pasted over with maple, oak leaves, sprayed with varnish for structural strength, beautifully shaped glass bottles are coated with glue, and then rolled in buckwheat, oatmeal, decoy.

Conclusion

Products from natural materials for interior decoration is easy to do with your own hands, using a little imagination. Even a five-year-old child under adult supervision can cope with the simplest ones. Unique applications, toys, paintings, photo frames, decor for the Christmas tree are created from forest, garden, field, sea "gifts of nature" in the home workshop. Detailed instructions can be found on the Internet, on the pages of popular print publications on the subject of "hand-made."