Acorn Crafts for Kids – Lesson Plans

It seems like the squirrels are already getting all the acorns where I live, but if you can save some from them (not too many; they’ve got to eat, too!) you can make some fun acorn crafts. Whether you do this at home or in a classroom, it’s a fun way to hang onto fall and make something pretty with natural materials.

I’ve never really done anything special with my acorns when we bring them inside, but if you want to make yours last for years, check out the tips at Staying Close to Home. If you want to just paint your acorns and leave it at that, this tutorial from Home Stories A to Z can help you there.

Of course an acorn, painted or not, is an obvious surface for a face (like on these acorn necklaces we shared a few years ago; the original site seems to be gone but I’ll bet you can get the idea from the photo of how to make your own).

And from adding a face it’s only a short journey to turning acorns into squirrels, like this adorable project from Toys in the Dryer. Or you can make acorn mice like these from Kids Craft Room. Use a pipe cleaner if you don’t have fuzzy yarn for the tail.

Or grab the googly eyes and some other materials and make a fun character with acorns, like these from Raising a Blessing. So cute!

Add a marble to an acorn cap to make a pretty necklace with instructions from Rhythms of Play. You could also just paint the caps separately and use them in projects, as hats for peg dolls or in other ways your kids are sure to come up with on their own.

You can also turn acorns into adorable toadstool mushrooms. Learn how from Twig and Toadstool.

How do you play and craft with acorns? I’d love to hear your ideas!

Acorn Learning Activities

Make Pretty Acorn Necklaces with Marbles

Using Natural Objects in the Fall Classroom

Next Plan Idea:

Acorn Learning Activities

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply