Crafting with natural materials
Animals, decorations, and little artworks made from leaves, chestnuts, shells, and more.
The best craft box is often right outside your door: colorful leaves, shiny chestnuts, pine cones, shells from your last beach holiday, or a branch from a walk in the woods. With a little imagination, you can create amazing things from these treasures.
We've put together some ideas that all use natural materials collected from outdoors, from little animals made of leaves and chestnuts to decorations made from branches and wood slices, as well as shell art from the beach and calming nature games. Perfect for continuing the fun after a walk or outing.
With just one click, you can find the complete instructions for each idea. It's best to gather the materials on your next walk, so you can get started right away at home.
Animals made from leaves and chestnuts
With just a few collected leaves or chestnuts, you can create little animals here, often with just a few simple steps.
Paint a Fox from a Maple Leaf
A colorful maple leaf gets transformed into a little forest creature with just a few brush strokes, adding a fox face, ears, nose, and eyes. It's perfect for an autumn walk where you can collect the right leaf along the way. This lovely motif also makes a great picture to hang up.
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Birch Leaf Fox
With just two birch leaves and a few painted details, you can create an adorable fox face that's quick to make and truly eye-catching. The heart-shaped form of the birch leaves is perfect for pointy fox ears. It's a lovely little project to do in your spare time.
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Crafting a Chestnut Snake. Nature Becomes an Animal.
By threading several chestnuts together, you can create a snake that can even move with a bit of practice. It takes some patience and a gentle touch to thread them, but the moment of realization at the end is even more rewarding. It's a lovely project that turns collected chestnuts into a real creature.
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Crafting Chestnut Snails
With collected chestnuts, you can create a little snail in just a few steps, complete with a face and antennae made from extra materials. It's a simple and quick idea that even the little ones can easily join in on. Making several of them creates a whole snail family.
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Pine Cone Owl
You can create a cute little owl from a pine cone by adding felt or paper eyes. This nocturnal forest creature, known for its big eyes, is almost perfectly shaped by the natural form of the cone. It makes a lovely decoration for your windowsill or shelf.
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Crafting a Hazel Mouse
With just a few little additions, a cute hazel mouse is created from a hazelnut, small, round, and with a long tail. This idea is especially great in autumn when hazelnuts are being collected anyway. It's quick to make and still charming.
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The Leaf Caterpillar. Bringing a Piece of Autumn to Life
From a colorful mix of autumn leaves, you can create a caterpillar with a face that’s even fun for racing against other caterpillars. The more vibrant the leaves you collect, the prettier the result. It’s a project that combines collecting and crafting in one.
View instructions →Little masterpieces made from leaves
Leaves are more than just crafting material; you can paint, print, and even meditate with them. These ideas show you all the possibilities that one single leaf holds.
Leaf Man in Autumn
From fallen leaves, you can create a little figure with arms, legs, and a head, all put together according to your own imagination. Instead of just leaving the leaves on the ground, they get a second chance here as a piece of art. At the end, you can take a photo before the wind blows everything away again.
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Ghosts from Maple Leaves
With some drawn-on faces, maple leaves turn into little ghosts, perfect for Halloween or just for some spooky fun in between. The typical shape of the maple leaf almost resembles a fluttering ghostly robe by itself. It's a quick, seasonal crafting idea.
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Leaf Rubbing
When you place a piece of paper over a leaf and rub it with a colored pencil, the delicate vein pattern of the leaf's underside suddenly appears. It's a simple little trick with a big wow effect that reveals how many details a leaf holds. Laying different leaves side by side creates a beautiful picture.
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Magic Leaf
A single autumn leaf serves as the starting point for a little mindfulness exercise. Take a close look, feel it, and discover the details of the leaf. It's a calm and unusual idea for a moment to pause and breathe in between. Perfect for wrapping up an autumn walk.
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Crafting a Maple Crown
You can create a real crown from several maple leaves that fits perfectly on your head, a little royal accessory straight from the woods. Collecting the right leaves is part of the adventure. Especially in autumn, when the leaves are colorful, the crown becomes a real eye-catcher.
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Making a Maple Leaf Basket
With just a single maple leaf and a few folds, you can create a little basket that's perfect for your next walk to collect treasures like wild strawberries or acorns. It's a clever idea that combines crafting and collecting, all without any glue or scissors.
View instructions →Crafting with chestnuts, acorns, and pine cones
Chestnuts, acorns, and pine cones can be found everywhere along the roadside in autumn, making them perfect materials for small crafting projects.
Making a Chestnut Launcher
With a chestnut and some fabric or crepe paper, you can create a throwing chestnut that’s perfect for tossing and catching. It’s a lovely way to turn collected chestnuts into a small toy. Plus, it’s a fun way to practice your aim.
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Craft a Chestnut Spider Web
A thread stretched between several chestnut trees creates a small spider web, a lovely decoration idea perfect for autumn or Halloween. It takes a bit of patience to stretch the threads, but the result is surprisingly delicate. Once hung up, the web looks great in the window.
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Acorn Caps and Marbles
With acorn caps and small marbles, you can quickly create lovely little decorations without any glue or tools. It's a fun idea for a quick project, and gathering the acorn caps is already part of the fun. Perfect for the little ones too.
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Pine Cone Pom-Pom Pendant
A pine cone decorated with colorful pom-poms turns into a lovely pendant that you can tie to a string and hang up. This is a simple and quick crafting idea, where each pendant becomes a unique piece based on the choice of pom-pom colors. It's also great as a small gift.
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Painting Chestnut Hedgehogs
With just a few painted spikes and a face, you can turn chestnuts into adorable little hedgehogs, perfect for the season when real hedgehogs are getting ready for hibernation. It's a simple idea, and each chestnut will look a bit different. When you make several of them, you create a whole hedgehog family.
View instructions →Branches, twigs, and wooden disks
Here, decorations, small gifts, and even an Advent calendar are made from branches, twigs, and tree slices.
Your Own Magic Wand Carved from a Stick
With a found branch and a little carving work, you can create your very own magic wand, no witch's kitchen required. Carving takes some quiet time and, depending on the age, the help of an adult. In the end, each child has their own personal, magical treasure.
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Easter Basket from Twigs – Crafting with Natural Materials
You can create a small Easter basket from collected twigs, woven or tied together however you like. It's a lovely opportunity to combine Easter with a walk in the woods. Filled with colorful eggs, the basket becomes a real eye-catcher on the breakfast table.
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Make a Walking Stick
With just a stick and some wool, you can quickly create your very own walking stick, perfect for your next trip to the woods. It's a simple idea that turns an ordinary walk into a little adventure. Wrapped in colorful wool, the stick becomes your personal companion.
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Heart on Wood Slice: Craft a Gift
On a wooden slice, you can create a heart using nails and colorful yarn. It's a lovely gift idea for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or just because. Hammering in the nails requires a bit of strength and caution, so it's a good idea to have an adult help out. In the end, you'll have a truly personal, handmade gift.
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Build a Bark Boat
With a piece of bark and a few other treasures found in the woods, you can create a little boat, ready to set sail on the next stream or pond. Building it and then testing it on the water are both part of the adventure. It's a lovely project for a trip to the water.
View instructions →Shells and stones from the beach
You often have shells and stones from your last beach holiday sitting in a drawer; these ideas will give them a second life.
Crafting a Blue Whale from Mussel Shells
A small blue whale, the largest animal on Earth in miniature form, is created from several mussels. The dark, elongated shape of the shells surprisingly fits well with the whale's body. It's a lovely decoration idea for anyone who loves the sea.
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Making Shell Candles
Shells from your last trip to the beach can be turned into small, fragrant candles with a bit of wax. It's a lovely way to remember your vacation, and they can be used as decoration or gifts afterward. An adult should handle the melting of the wax.
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Craft a Turtle from Shells
Using a larger shell as a shell and a few smaller additions for the head and legs, you can create a little turtle. It's a lovely way to transform collected treasures from the beach into a new animal. With a splash of color, the turtle will become even more vibrant.
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Craft a Jellyfish from a Shell
With a single shell and a few ribbons as tentacles, you can create a colorful jellyfish that looks great hanging in your room. It's a simple and quick idea for anyone who has some shells left over from vacation. The more ribbons you use, the livelier the jellyfish will be.
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Painting Shells
Collected shells become a canvas for little artworks here, whether it's patterns, animals, or simply colorful patches. It's a relaxed crafting idea where each shell turns into a unique piece. Once painted, the shells also make lovely little keepsakes.
View instructions →Little Nature Games and Quiet Moments
Natural materials are not just great for crafting; they also make for fun outdoor play, and sometimes they even help you relax.
Nature Bracelet and Bookmark Crafting
The flowers you collect on your next walk can be turned into a lovely bracelet and a matching bookmark. It's a wonderful way to preserve little treasures from nature instead of just letting them wilt away. Two creations from a single walk.
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Pine Cone Dart. Hit the Center of Nature!
You can create a lying dartboard using collected natural materials, with pine cones as projectiles. It's a game that can be set up entirely outdoors and without any purchased materials. Perfect for a walk in the woods with a break.
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Acorn Memory Game. A Game from the Forest
You can create a memory game using collected acorns, leaves, and other treasures, where you need to match shapes and patterns. It's a lovely idea to take a break during your next walk in the woods. Plus, it helps train concentration without even realizing it.
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Cone Tossing
With collected pine cones, players aim at targets drawn with chalk. The one who hits the most points wins. It's a simple throwing game that can be set up anywhere outside where there are pine cones and a bit of space. Quick to explain and ready to play right away.
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Chestnut Massage. Strengthen Your Senses & Body Awareness
Chestnuts are rolled over hands, arms, or feet, providing a little massage that awakens the senses while also relaxing. It's an unusual but very pleasant way to use collected chestnuts. Perfect as a calm ending after an exciting day.
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Chestnut Meditation
With collected chestnuts in hand, let's dive into a short guided relaxation exercise where the smooth surface of the chestnuts helps you feel more at ease. It's a calming idea for a moment in between when things could use a little order. Perfect for transitioning into sleep as well.
View instructions →Noch mehr Inspiration?
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And if you're looking for more ideas for indoors and outdoors, feel free to browse through our categories or check out the free Grubenfuchs app. We hope you enjoy collecting and crafting with nature.