If you are anything like me you are probably starting to get inundated with conkers! We have had great fun collecting them at various places around us so we have been doing lots of crafts, games and a bit of fun maths with conkers over the last week!
1. Play the traditional game of conkers we all remember from our childhood!
2. Make a conker snake or caterpillar. As well as been great fun these are also a great way of helping children with their number bonds to 10 as they can move the conkers up and down on the string. Either skewer or drill a hole in the conkers, children can then use their fine motor skills threading the conkers on the string. One thing to note conkers are hard to stick things to so I would recommend the eyes that have peel back stickers or super glue.
3. Practice counting with conkers. My eldest helped my youngest with her number practice. They sorted the conkers into a line from the smallest to largest and the eldest practised counting in 2s and 5s with conkers. They both had great fun with the conkers and didn’t realise it had an underlying maths focus!
4. Paint with conkers. This is a bit like marble painting but with conkers! Get a baking tray, put a sheet of paper in the bottom, squirt different colours of paint in the tray and roll the conkers around to make pretty conker pictures!
5. Conker games. Why not add a bit of fun into some traditional games with the use of conkers. e.g. Conker & Spoon race, Conker Boules, place an object like a large stone and see who can get their conker the closest.
6. Conker Halloween Monsters. Get ready for Halloween with some scary monsters. Thanks to CJ at Kip McGrath Hull West, English and Maths private tutoring centre in Anlaby, for sending me this one in! Her daughter designed this scary spider.
7. Conker decorating. In the case of my two, decorating conkers was like decorating eggs at Easter – see how much glitter they can get on the conkers and themselves!!! There are lots of ways to decorate conkers and suitable for all ages, you could also try conker printing with flat conkers.
8. Fend off spiders. Its the time of year when spiders make an appearance, apparently placing conkers around the house on windowsills keeps the spiders away. I’m yet to have this one confirmed, I have conkers out and spiders in!
9. Conker jewellery. Drill holes in the conkers and you can make a necklace or bracelet.
10. Make conker animals. Let your child’s imagination run wild, get out the craft box, playdough or use other autumnal materials like acorns, leaves sticks and make your favourite conker animal.
We had great fun doing lots of different activities with our conkers, hope you enjoy some of them as well!