Good ideas for stuff to make with children :)

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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
In the vein of making hardboiled eggs, HB the plain eggs first as you make a small pot of tea, 4X - 6X strong.
Beat on the shells with a spoon, just enough to crack the shells. 30 minutes in the simmering tea.
Peeling the shells, the tea stains the egg white in a marbled appearance = Chinese Tea Eggs.
 

Tommyd345

Nomad
Feb 2, 2015
369
4
Norfolk
Ehm, peashooters are illegal….they come a cropper under the anti blowpipe legislation.

"the weapon sometimes known as a "blowpipe" or "blow gun" , being a hollow tube out of which hard pellets or darts are shot by the use of breath;

Criminal Justice Act 1988 "


Stick to making whistles :)
Surely with a frozen pea I'm not going to hold up a bank or kill anyone?
I honestly had no idea a pea shooter was illigal!
Thanks for the heads up!
 
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vestlenning

Settler
Feb 12, 2015
717
76
Western Norway
Simple carving exercises to get good at handling a knife is invaluable. Don't be too afraid of the children cutting themselves, it's part of the training.
 

Insel Affen

Settler
Aug 27, 2014
530
86
Tewkesbury, N Gloucestershire
Ehm, peashooters are illegal….they come a cropper under the anti blowpipe legislation.

"the weapon sometimes known as a "blowpipe" or "blow gun" , being a hollow tube out of which hard pellets or darts are shot by the use of breath;

Criminal Justice Act 1988 "

Stick to making whistles :)

Surely not? Can you define a pea shooter? My son got one on the front of his Horrible Histories magazine the other week. If they were illegal, they wouldn't be on sale in a kiddies magazine. I mean it's about 14 inches long by about half inch wide, but you could put hard pellets in them.
 

JFW

Settler
Mar 11, 2004
506
18
55
Clackmannanshire
Ehm, peashooters are illegal….they come a cropper under the anti blowpipe legislation.

"the weapon sometimes known as a "blowpipe" or "blow gun" , being a hollow tube out of which hard pellets or darts are shot by the use of breath;

Criminal Justice Act 1988 "

Stick to making whistles :)

My kids have a selection of bushcraft straws made from elder. They are great for lots of other things especially the 4ft long one, but it does take ages to sook up the hot chocolate from the mug though.;)

Cheers

JFW
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
Surely not? Can you define a pea shooter? My son got one on the front of his Horrible Histories magazine the other week. If they were illegal, they wouldn't be on sale in a kiddies magazine. I mean it's about 14 inches long by about half inch wide, but you could put hard pellets in them.

Most elementary school kids just use an ordinary drinking straw and paper spitballs.
 

Cavegirl

Member
Mar 21, 2015
12
1
Morecambe
I have a couple of ideas for things to make with children:

1. A dreamcatcher made from natural materials. The dreamcatcher could be made from willow and twine and decorated with feathers, shells and wooden beads. It's a simple and quick form of net making with the most basic knot work and produces something they can display at the end. I found a youtube link to the type of thing I'm talking about here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLhJLPARqNw

2. Macrami or fishing net toy bag or hammock.

Macrami is a great way to introduce different types of knot work and the wooden hangers can be foraged and carved. Macrami can be used to turn twine into strong cordage or for making quick and simple bags.
 
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Insel Affen

Settler
Aug 27, 2014
530
86
Tewkesbury, N Gloucestershire
I don't think this has been on this post (that I can see anyway) but this was run on the Home page for a while:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/content.php?r=669-Early-hints-of-spring

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/content.php?r=668-Twigs-and-Buds-of-Winter-and-Spring

A mate of mine (Dave Nott of Surefire Bushcraft) put this on his FB page. I followed the link to the Woodland trust, which has shed loads of stuff for all ages - brilliant website. These are a particularly good resources, print them out, fold to A5 and pop them in a little Nirex folder.
 
Mar 16, 2014
7
0
Ireland
My cub scouts done this for a special interest project to get a badge last summer they done a fantastic job on them, they came up with how they were going to do it all. It's really good for the children to be able to try out the stuff they made. They were all so proud of themselves :) so was I
 

fhaggis

Member
Aug 8, 2016
25
4
scotland
so i decided i was gonna make this and i dropped my wee girl of at nursery today and what did they have? one of these, couldn't tell if they where home made or had been bought (staff didn't know), the wood was all different sizes but cracking none the less!
 
I really like the dream catcher idea.
Kite is another one- kids love kites.
Or may be planting a flower seed in a pot. It will be interesting for them to watch it grow and blossom.
There are plenty of DIY projects that you could get your kids involved in and enjoy your time together.
 

LadySmyth

Tenderfoot
Jan 6, 2017
61
0
UK
What a great thread!!! Some lovely ideas... I was going to take my youngest grandaughter on a forage but i think she's still too young (the eldest isn't interested one bit)... So i was thinking it would be great to go on an insect observation and identification walk. She has shown an interest in housespiders and ladybirds in the city so diversity will be even greater in the countryside. Always nice to get into nature for a walk too.

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LadySmyth

Tenderfoot
Jan 6, 2017
61
0
UK
What a great thread!!! Some lovely ideas... I was going to take my youngest grandaughter on a forage but i think she's still too young (the eldest isn't interested one bit)... So i was thinking it would be great to go on an insect observation and identification walk. She has shown an interest in housespiders and ladybirds in the city so diversity will be even greater in the countryside. Always nice to get into nature for a walk too.

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Oops, my bad... This thread was about stuff to make, not do... But i suppose we could make large scale insects from said observations out of natural materials... Sorted ☺

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JaspP

Member
Mar 9, 2017
10
0
London
Okay this isn't a permanent creation, but is definitely a fun one to make nevertheless. What about a den (either outside or inside, it's a pretty adaptable creation). Me and my kids do it all the time, and everytime it's slightly different and has a different story attached to it... hours of fun!
 

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