Pine Cone Critters

 

Have any extra pine cones laying around?

This time of year, it’s easy to stumble across some pine cones. You may find one (or many) out in the evergreen forest. Or, maybe there is a collection of them with the winter and holiday decorations?

Now that the scented pine cones have lost their scent, let’s try to recycle them into some cute critters!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s start with Owl

Here are the steps you can follow to create our pine cone owl.

Need some help with the parts? Feel free to use our drawing. You will have to print it off, and then you can color and decorate it as much as you like.

1.

Collect Supplies: 

White paper or cardstock

Marker or pen

Colored pencils, crayons or markers

Pine cone

Scissors

Tape, paste or glue

2.

Draw the animal parts:

Eyes

Beak

Wings

Belly

Tail

Feet

Now, add a “tab” to each one, to make it easier to attach them to the pinecone

3.

Color the parts of your animal

Color on the back side if you want to avoid the lines showing

You can also add feathers or other drawn patterns to your animal parts

4.

Cut out the pieces carefully

 

Collecting your supplies

The different parts for your owl critter. You can draw them out on paper or card stock. Size will depend on the size of your pine cone.

Add some “tabs” to the parts; these will help attach them to the pine cone as we construct our critter

Color the parts of your critter. If you color on the back side, you can avoid seeing the lines.

You can also cut out the critter parts before you color or decorate them. Just be sure to color over a protected surface, like an extra sheet of paper or newsprint

Once your parts are colored and cut out, it is time to put your critter together!

Putting owl critter together!

5.

Using tape, glue or paste, use the tabs to attach the parts of your critter to the pine cone.

You may need an adult to help with this step – it can be harder than it looks!

First we tried scotch tape, but pieces do fall kinda easily. Then we tried thicker paste, and when used on the tabs, this did secure parts a little better. Also you can make use of sliding tabs between tighter spaces in the pine cone to help secure.

Want to try more?

 You can always personalize your artwork, too. Consider…

  • Adding layers of wings to make it more feather-like
  • Adding glitter or stickers
  • Drawing and cutting out a nest for your owl family

Or…

Try making up your own pine cone critter design!

Here are some more ideas you could try.

Squirrel!