Making "creatures of the forest" using natural materials
Hands up: whom wants to ban the conkers play activity? ...that game is one of the ancient traditional games of children's play culture in Britain, dating back to the 16th century!
Children of most of the European countries always enjoyed engaging in different creative activities with horse chestnuts. One of those play activities was and in some area still is the "creatures of the forests making game", which is one of the best way to inspire imaginative games. These minimally formed creatures stimulate child's imagination becouse he or she has to "completes" the object in whatever way the play needs to be developed.
To make the Creatures of the Forest you will need bits of tree sticks, some horse-chestnuts, a nail to make holes and other material found around trees, liquid glue and scissors, pieces of cardboard.
Children can look for more interesting bits and scraps to make compositions different from those on display. The workshop is a seasonal activity. The best period to run the workshop is from the end of September till November when one can collect horse chesnuts from the groun
d and thus make toys with them.
Eventually, something similar and "warm" to the seasonal toys (the creatures of the forest) can be made using wooded materials easy to find aroun
d the home, like slices of broom stick, corks, bamboo or barbeque skewers, wooden crates, wooden racks for plates or wine bottles.
Interesting articles:
Nature's toys - kids' outdoor activities
Open-ended and natural material - Understanding Waldorf Education
Natural handmade toys - a collection of selfmade toys selected by Jean Pierre Rossie