Hello! I’m Helen, Mum to Peakles my four year old daughter. Peakles and I have been crafting, learning, playing and I write about it on our blog called Peakle Pie.
We love playing and we love creating things from the books that have inspired us! Over the past year we have made lots of colourful sculptures, painted pictures and made up our own games too. Peakles is very proud of what we do and will tell everybody she can that she is Peakle Pie!
I try to maintain that ‘hands on’ feel with our site and Peakles is involved with every craft and activity featured.
3 Simple Mini Scarecrows for Happy Little Gardeners
Peakles (my daughter) and I love gardening and we are very interested in sympathetic gardening. This involves being more aware of which plants work well together and which plants deter insect pests. As we try to keep our garden quite ‘natural’ we do have lots of bird visitors. After we watched some birds eat our seeds and seedlings out of the pots on the patio, Peakles asked if there was anything we could do to stop them. We talked about scarecrows and decided to make miniature ones to plant out with our seeds.
Not only do they help to keep the birds off our plants but they also make great window box or garden ornaments. Plus they are so cute they would make lovely gifts too!
Equipment and Materials:
Lollipop Sticks
Fabric Scraps
Card
Paper
Pen or Pencil
Scissors
Wool
Glue
How to Make 3 Mini Scarecrows:
Preparing the materials
Carefully cut out squares, rectangles and triangles from the fabric scraps to make some clothes such as a dress, skirt, trousers and tops.
Cut out some smaller squares, semicircles and flower shapes for hats from paper.
Next take a length of wool and cut it into short lengths. This will be the straw for the scarecrows hair, arms and legs.
Cut out a length of card which is half the size of the lollipop stick. These will be the arms.
Making the Mini Scarecrows
A Lady Scarecrow
Take a lollipop stick and the glue. Stick the arms on the lollipop stick about a quarter way down to make a cross shape.
Stick on some wool to make long hair on the top of the lollipop stick.
Take a fabric triangle (dress) and stick onto the stick. (Remember this will be stick in a plant pot so leave enough lollipop stick undecorated so you can do this)
Add two smaller fabric rectangles and stick onto the arms as sleeves. Stick some strands of wool to the edges of the sleeves and dress as straw.
Next add a hat or a flower to the scarecrows head and with a pen or pencil draw on the stick some eyes and a mouth.
A Man Scarecrow
Take the lollipop stick and glue on the arms like previously. Stick on some fabric scrap trousers and a top with some wool strands stick out for straw. (Remember to leave enough stick to place in the plant pot)
Next stick a hat and some wool strands onto the top of the head.
Add eyes and a mouth in pen onto the stick.
A Child or Baby Scarecrow
Take a fabric scrap and cover quarter of the lollipop stick with it. Add some wool straw at the bottom and the top. Draw on some eyes and a smile and add a flower or fabric semi-circle (for a cap or bonnet) to the top of the head.
Take your scarecrows and pop them into some plant pots to scare away the birds and make your garden look pretty too!
You can find Helen over at PeaklePie.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or G+
You might also like:
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.