Preserve Autumn Leaves

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Preserve leaves and make wilds art

Don’t you wish those beautiful autumn leaves could last forever?  We love to preserve them by carefully dipping them in bees wax that has been melted on the campfire.  The wax quickly dries and the finished leaves can be used to create all sorts of things.

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You can buy bees wax in blocks or as granules online or in hardware shops. This is then melted in an old pan over a fire or on a hob. When the wax has melted completely the leaves can be dipped in. The leaves should then be held over the pan until the excess wax has dripped off and then laid flat to dry. It takes a bit of trial and error to know when the wax is at the perfect temperature. Too hot and the leaves singe, but too cold and the wax does not dry clear. The hot wax will burn the skin and can catch light if left unattended so care and adult supervision are essential.

The finished leaves can be used in all sorts of crafts. You could use them to make ground art or string them up with other Autumn treasures to make mobiles and garlands. Older children and adults enjoy making dream catchers or wreaths adorned with the leaves. You could even use them to dress an Autumn Flower Fairy along the same lines as our Spring Flower Fairies.

Conkers

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There is something irresistible about conkers. When you find a Horse Chestnut Tree in the Autumn it is almost impossible not to pick up the shiny round treasures and put them in your pocket.

Although playing conkers has long gone out of fashion it is still a lot of fun. Many of the adult at our sessions remember soaking conkers in vinegar, lightly roasting them or putting them in the freezers in an effort to make them harder and increase the chance of winning. Although the children are usually confused at first they are generally intrigued enough to have a game!

If you are not the competitive type then you could see what else you can make from conkers. A palm drill is useful to make holes in the conkers and then they can be threaded on string or pipe cleaners. Have a look at our gallery below for inspiration.

Learn More About Hibernation

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Only three British mammals genuinely hibernate.  These are the Dormouse, hedgehog and the bat.  Other animals such as squirrels and badgers take it easy and spend much of the winter in their drays and sets.  However, they do venture out to feed and their bodies don’t go into full shut down unlike those that hibernate.

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We can celebrate these animals with activities while we ponder what it would be like to hibernate and if we would do it ourselves given the choice. You can find a few ideas below.

Make Hedgehog Bread

Make Hedgehog Bread

Make a Dormouse from an acorn and build it a mini shelter to hibernate in.

Make a Dormouse from an acorn and build it a mini shelter to hibernate in.

Build a hibernaculum or mini-beast hotel for insects such as mason bees, queen bumblebees and butterflies to hibernate in.

Build a hibernaculum or mini-beast hotel for insects such as mason bees, queen bumblebees and butterflies to hibernate in.

Watching Spiders

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Love them or hate them no one can deny that they are a talking point and with 650 species in the UK they are hard to avoid!  Why is it they seem to be out in force in the Autumn?  The answer is mating season!  The female spider will stay in her summer web and can often be seen in the middle while the web is glistening with raindrops or dew caught by the Autumn sunshine.  The males can be found scuttling about in search of a partner.  I will save you from all the gory details of a Spider’s mating habits.  All I will say is the male usually stays in the female’s web until winter when he dies – unless she decide to eat him first!

Hunting for Hazelnuts

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Go on a Hazelnut hunt

There is something rather magical about the Hazel tree.  Red flowers give way to yellow catkins and finally nuts.  How wonderful to find a source of protein literally growing on trees.  If you look around the base of this twiggy tree you are liable to find lots of discarded nutshells.  With a bit of detective work and a magnifying glass we can come to some conclusions about which woodland creatures have eaten the nut!  Chief suspects include Squirrels, Wood Mice, Nuthatches and Hazel Weevils.  If we are really lucky we might find a nut that has been nibbled by a Dormouse. The Peoples Trust for Endangered Species have produced this information sheet to help you discover more.

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 Roast nuts in a nut oven

If there are any nuts left after the woodland feast we could roast them in a nut oven. This involves burying the nuts in sand and making a small fire on the top.  This does bring us to an ethical dilemma however.  Should we be picking the hazelnuts when they are such a valuable source of food for our woodland friends?  As the Dormouse is on the endangered animals list its preferable to leave the nuts where they are.  However, luckily for us nearby Kent boast several organic cobnut farms.  Cobnuts are a cultivated variety of Hazelnut and are easy to buy in the Autumn.  That way you can roast nuts without further jeopardising the Dormouse’s survival.

Discover Fabulous Fungi

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Discover some fabulous Fungi

It’s so exciting a take a walk in the woods on a rainy day and discover the strange mushrooms that seem to have been woken by the rain.  Children seem to revel in the fact that some are poisonous and once safety rules have been establish there is so much to discover for all ages. 

Very young children can recognise different colours and shapes of the fungus they find.  They can imagine fairies sitting on top of a Fly Agaric or dancing around the Fairy Ring Champignon.  We like to give our Autumn events a magical twist and the fungi provides the perfect back drop!

Older children can explore the life cycle of fungus by making spore prints or watching a puffball blow out its spores.  We can demonstrate how the Fly Agaric got its spots or paint with the ink extracted from Shaggy Ink Caps.   King Alfred’s Cakes are great for fire craft due to their ability to burn like coal.

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Then there is the concept of symbiotic and parasitic relationships to explore not to mention that rumour that trees may actually communicate through the web of mycelium (the vegetative part of a fungus) underneath the woodland floor!

The Woodland Trust offer a Fungi Hunt Spotter Sheet and an Autumn Fungi Hunt Identification Sheet. Why not take a copy next time you go for a walk in the woods and see what you can find?

Crab Apple Cordial

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Crab apple trees are common in woodland and several of the woods we use for our sessions have prominent crab apple trees. They stand out in the Spring when they are covered in blossom and they are easy to identify this time of year by the sea of round yellow apples on the ground.

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These apples get their name because they are sour - like a crabby person! They might seem of little value, but every cultivated variety of apple descended from the crab apple. We use them in the mud kitchen, we roll them down drainpipes, race them against pine cones and conkers, and we use them as stamps to make apple prints.

We also like to use them to make Crab Apple Cordial. Adding sugar makes the cordial sweet with a delicate apple flavour. Although the apples will be around into November, they are at their best right now so it is the perfect time to give the recipe below a try.

How to Make Crab Apple Cordial

To make Crap Apple Cordial you need to fill a pan with washed crab apples. Cover these with cold water, bring to the boil and then simmer until soft. Next strain the crab apples and retain the liquid. You then need to add 3/4 of a cup of sugar for every cup of liquid. This should be returned to the pan and heated through until the sugar has dissolved.

In the woods we like to add more water to the pan and drink the warm cordial around the camp fire straight away. However, if you pour it into a sterilised bottle and put it in the fridge it will keep for a couple of months.

Camp Fire Toffee Apples

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By Mel Evans

This really is a recipe that has to be tried to be believed. If the word ‘Toffee Apple’ conjures up an image of a rock solid, sickly fun fair treat then put that out of your mind. These soft warm, delicious toffee apples are more akin to an apple pie on a stick.

We make these every Autumn in the woods when our local apples begin to appear on the trees, but they make the perfect camping dessert any time of the year. You can even use Elder Flower Sugar to give these apples an early summer flavour.

These are easy to make on a campfire and you just need a sharpened stick long enough to sit safely back from the fire, some apples and some sugar. The sugar can be infused with other flavours or spices like cinnamon can be mixed through.

The first stage is to push the apple onto the stick and roast it over the fire until the skin is black. This takes a bit of patience and requires a good hot fire, but its lots of fun, The best thing is you don’t need to worry about burning the apple as the blacker it goes the better!

Next you should be able to peel the blackened skin off. If its really burnt it should come off easily by scraping it with a tea spoon.

Finally you coat the apple in sugar and return it briefly to the fire to caramalise. Allow to cool slightly and enjoy!