Autumn is the perfect time of year to take to the outdoors with the family as there’s an array of wildlife to spot and beautiful scenery to take in. Better yet, if you and your family are bonkers for conkers there will be plenty to collect during the autumnal season.
Conkers start to fall any time from late September, so now’s the perfect time to get out there exploring and collecting conkers. Once you’ve built up a hefty conker stash, why not get creative and see what you can do with your collection.
We’ve teamed up with the budding bird enthusiasts over at Kennedy Wild Bird food, to bring you some fun autumnal activities to partake in as a family and put all those conkers to good use!
1. Conker hunting
A great family activity to partake in during autumn is conker hunting. This will get the family out into the fresh air and will get you working up a sweat as you search for the conkers.
Have a look at the National Trust’s guide on where to find the best conkers in your region and start searching before they’re all gone.
Whilst you’re out and about, be sure to see what wildlife and flowers you can spot too. If you’re lucky, you may be able to see birds flocking in formation or crawly creatures under rocks, so keep your eyes peeled.
2. Crazy conker faces
Get crafty with your conkers and make little conker faces for you and your kids to play with.
Be sure to wash them thoroughly first to get rid of unwanted debris. Then get your your paint, glitter, googly eyes and paper together to make an array of funky faces.
You can do this by painting your conkers different colours, drawing eyes on paper and sticking them on the painted conkers, or using googly eyes if you have them around the house.
You could get even more creative by adding cotton wool to your crazy conkers to make funky hairstyles too – the possibilities are endless!
3. Conker and spoon race
Rather than wasting perfectly good eggs with an egg and spoon race, put your conkers to good use and race with them instead.
If you’re creating a course for smaller, younger kids, you could keep the game simple by getting them to race with their conkers over a short distance. Whereas for older kids and adults, you could make the game more interesting by creating obstacles to pass to get to the finish line.
This is a great autumnal activity to set up for the family and requires little to no effort to execute.
4. String them together
If you have a fine drill or screwdriver in your garage, you can use this to create small holes through your conkers so that your kids can thread string through.
You can make necklaces and bracelets, or you can simply make a ridiculously long chain of conkers. Whichever route you decide to go down, you’ll be sure to keep your family occupied for hours with this simple activity.
5. Simple counting games
You can use your stash of conkers to create simple counting games.
Whilst this may not be the most exciting use for your conkers, it will help to keep younger kids’ attention and saves you having to go out and buy plastic counters for the same purpose.
If you have any creative conker concoctions of your own, why not share them with us!