Samara dragonflies
Make dragonflies from fallen sycamore, ash or maple seeds! Sycamore, ash and maple trees drop their seeds safely to the ground using casing called a samara. Then they fall from the tree, samaras twist and whirl like a helicopter so the seed inside doesn’t get damaged as it falls. Samaras come in beautiful shapes and can be used in all sorts of craft projects – including making dragonflies!
What you will need:
Cotton pipe cleaners
Wooden beads
Sycamore, ash or maple seeds (I’ve used maple seeds)
What you need to do:
1. Go for a walk and look for sycamore, ash or maple seeds. You’ll find sycamore and maple trees growing in parks and woodlands. Their leaves are large and arranged in five lobes. The Woodland Trust is a great resource for tree identification. At this time of year, the ground underneath them should be covered with samaras!
2. You will need two samaras for each of your dragonflies. Choose ones with shapes you like - the larger ones will work best. Try and collect ones with long stems still attached to them – your stems will be your dragonfly antennae.
3. When you get home, collect together your cotton pipe cleaners, wooden beads and samaras.
4. Take a pipe cleaner and fold it in half. Then fold it again about a quarter of the way down. This will be the front of your dragonfly.
5. Lay two samaras next to each other in the fold you have made in your pipe cleaner. Arrange the dragonfly antennae so they face forwards. The ‘wings’ can either back towards the tail of your dragonfly like in the photo or they can face forwards. If you don’t have antennae on your samara, don’t worry about it, they will still look great!
6. When you have the wings and antennae how you want them, press down on the fold in the pipe cleaner to hold them in place. Curve the folded part of the pipe cleaner around the seeds to hold them firmly in place. (If your wooden beads have large holes in them, you could tuck the end into bead instead).
7. Take your wooden beads and slide them onto the long part of the pipe cleaner, starting from the tail. You might want to make your dragonfly stripy or multicoloured!
8. When you have slid on your beads, bend over the last bit of pipe cleaner to make your dragonfly’s tail! The tail will hold your beads in place.
9. Do the same with your other pipe cleaners.
10. Enjoy your dragonflies! You can display them on shelves, or hang them by a thread from the ceiling!
Photography: Denise Hope, home educating mum of two boys
This activity featured in a previous Mud & Bloom box. 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!