Ahhh autumn – what’s not to love? We get to dig out our cosy clothes and enjoy delicious, hand warming beverages infused with our favourite seasonal spices. Not to forget the earthy autumn air and the soothing sound of crunching leaves beneath our feet.

By making the most of what you find and see outdoors, it can be a great way to cut down costs when it comes to craft activities in the classroom. You can use anything from leaves, acorns, pine cones, conkers and whatever else you may find.

How to Make a Pine Cone Squirrel
Meet Sam, our Pine Cone Squirrel.

In this blog, we’re showing you how to make a pine cone squirrel suitable for all ages in primary.

What you’ll need:

Step 1. Pick a felt in the colour you would like the squirrel to be. We picked brown.

Step 2. To make the squirrels face, draw a circle around the bottom of a glue stick and add two triangle shapes to the top of the circle to make the squirrel’s ears. Cut this shape out.

Step 3. Draw around this shape and cut it out again – stick the two together.

Step 4. Next, stick down two wiggly eyes just underneath the squirrel’s ears.

Step 5. Taking a black marker pen/whiteboard pen, add some detail to the face – the squirrel needs a nose and whiskers! You could also add detail to the ears.

Step 6. Add a good amount of glue to the back of the face and stick flat to the top of the pine cone.

Step 7. To make the squirrel’s feet, draw two shapes that look like socks onto your felt and cut these out.

Step 8. Using your black marker/whiteboard pen, add detail to the feet to make them look like paws.

Step 9. Stick the feet into the base of the pine cone – in-between the spines, using PVA. Hold these down for a moment to make sure it sticks.

Step 10. For the squirrel arms/paws, cut out two identical rounded paw shapes from the felt.

Step 11. Stick these flat on the pine cone spines underneath where the squirrels face is.

Step 12. Next, draw a bushy squirrel tail on to the felt (make sure that it’s taller than the pine cone). Cut this shape out.

Step 13. Draw around this shape and cut it out again – stick the two together.

Step 14. Add a line of PVA to the squirrel’s tail about half way up, and stick this flat to the back of the pine cone.

Step 15. Leave to dry overnight to make sure the tail is well glued down.