Conker Comets
Make these throwable conker comets, and make them fly through the air with their fiery tails!
What you will need:
Crepe paper streamers in 3 different colours for each conker comet
Paper ribbon
Conkers
Scissors
What you need to do:
1. Go for a walk and look for some conkers. Conkers come from horse chestnut trees, which grow in parks and are common across the UK. The conkers are the seeds of the tree and grow in green cases which are very spiky and sharp. Inside, the seed, which we call the conker, is brown and hard. Conkers feel lovely and smooth to touch and are great to collect! For this activity, try to collect some fairly big ones.
2. When you get home, collect together your crepe paper streamers and paper ribbons with your conkers.
3. Choose three streamers and one paper ribbon to wrap around one conker. Think about the colours you think will look good together: you might want to choose reds, oranges and yellows to make a fiery stream! Or, you might want to combine blues and purples, like in the pictures below.
4. Lay your three streamers in a rough star shape on a table, overlapping in the middle. Put your conker where they overlap. Remember that the bottom streamer will be on the outside when your conker comet is finished and the one closest to your conker will be on the inside. But don’t worry too much because you will be able to see all the colours!
5. Gather up your conker so it is inside your streamers. Give the streamers a twist to hold it in place.
6. Tie your ribbon in a simple knot to secure your conker, let the ribbon ends flow down with your streamers.
7. Your comet is taking shape but only has six wide tails. Take your scissors and cut down the middle of each streamer. Don’t worry too much about making the cut too straight or even. How many streamers have you got on your comet now?
8. Now it’s time to make your comet fly! They look lovely flying through the air with their streamers flowing behind. As the evenings get darker they even look like fireworks! Make sure no-one is in the way and see who can throw them furthest!
Photography: Denise Hope, home educating mum of two boys
This activity featured in a previous Mud & Bloom box and is now part of our classroom packs. If you’d like to receive regular nature craft activities like this alongside gardening activities for children, subscribe below to receive a monthly Mud & Bloom box!