Pinecone Crafts

Pinecone ornaments, one of three pinecone crafts you can make this season!

As a child, I remember my mom getting excited about collecting pinecones or magnolia pods, spray painting them gold or silver and turning them into holiday decor. Here are three pinecone crafts to enjoy with your kids. And don’t forget, taking a family walk to gather the pinecones is an important part of the experience!

Pinecone Hedgehogs

With glue, paint and googly eyes, you can turn a pinecone into just about any animal you please. Just Google “pinecone animals” for inspiration. But what could be more fun than a friendly hedgehog?

Supplies:

Pinecones
Tan or Light Brown Felt
Black Felt or Small Black Pom Poms
Hot Glue Gun/Glue Sticks
Googly Eyes
Scissors

Method:

1. Cut out a rounded triangle from the tan or light brown felt. Glue this onto whichever end of the pinecone is the front of the hedgehog, positioning it so that it will become a face.
2. Cut out two small rounded triangles for ears, and glue to pinecone.
3. Glue googly eyes onto the face felt.
4. Cut a small circle out of the black felt, and glue to the end of your face triangle, creating a nose.
5. Variation: Use colorful felt and paint to create bright, whimsical hedgehogs.

Pine Cone Turkey Place Card Holders

This is a fun craft that could also come in handy if you’re planning for a large family gathering over Thanksgiving! The version we found at craftaholicsanonymous.net (click link for picture) uses Washi tape to create colorful turkey tail feathers, but you could also use red, orange and brown markers to color the tail feathers. Parents will definitely need to help on this one, as it uses both an exacto knife (for the Washi tape) and hot glue.

Supplies:

Pinecones
Popsicle Sticks
Washi Tape (Get colors/patterns that would complement the back-end of a turkey 🙂
Exacto Knife
Googly Eyes
Red and Yellow Felt
Hot Glue Gun/Glue Sticks
Scissors
Cardstock
Pens

Method:

1. Use the Exacto knife to cut the popsicle sticks in half. Use six halves per pinecone.
2. Cut Washi Tape so that it is the same length as the halved popsicle sticks. Lay the popsicle sticks on the sticky end of the Washi tape, and use the exacto knife to carefully cut the Washi tape so that it is the same size/shape as the popsicle stick.
3. Use the hot glue gun to array the popsicle sticks around the thick end of the pinecone so that they resemble a turkey’s tail feathers.
4. Cut beak and waddle shapes from the yellow and red felt, respectively. Glue these onto the “front” end of the pinecone.
5. Glue googly eyes above the beak.
6. You can stop here, but if you want to turn these into place card holders, cut the cardstock into rectangles and write the names of your guests on the rectangles, one to a card. Place these cards in the center of your turkeys, and use some Elmer’s glue if needed to hold in place.

Pinecone Ornaments

Some people put up the Christmas tree as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are put away. Whether you’re one of these people or not, plan ahead for your annual tree trimming by crafting some rustic Pinecone Ornaments!

Supplies:

Pinecones
Thin Ribbon or twine, cut into 4” segments
Hot Glue
Other decorative elements (silk leaves or fake berries, glitter, spray paint, bells, etc.)

Method:

1. Use hot glue to create loops out of the ribbon, with the glue closing the two ends together. Then, glue onto the flat part of the pinecone.
2. Decorate pinecone as desired. Depending on what you are doing, you may want to do this step first—for example, if you want to spray paint your pinecone gold or another color. But if you are just gluing decorative elements on the top, you should wait until the ribbon is set.

Do you have any other pinecone crafts to recommend? Tell us about them in the comments!