INSPIRATIONS - blackberries

A collection of blackberry nature activities, including recipes and some great art & craft ideas.

Introduction

Last August we saw some brilliant blackberry activity ideas so we wanted to put them together in this Inspirations page.

Look out for an abundance of lovely ripe blackberries towards the end of the summer holidays. Did you know that in the northeast of England October half term is known as 'Blackberry Week'?

What you'll need

blackberries
collecting container

This activity has been provided by

Useful items from our shop

Item available from our shop

Environmental Considerations

Consider the environmental impact of preparing, carrying out & completing this activity. Could this impact be reduced? Specific considerations for this activity could include:

forage sensibly

Health & Safety Considerations

Follow your usual operating procedures and carry out appropriate risk benefit assessments.
Some considerations particular to this activity include:

watch out for bramble thorns and prickles

Blackberry Recipes

(that's if you can manage not to eat them all when you are out picking and have some left!)

Picking Top Tip

Cut some holes in the lid of a reused plastic pot and pop your berries through while you're collecting. If the pot gets dropped they won't all fall out.

Have a look at our tips for foraging. .

Blackberry cordial

Add 750g blackberries to a pan with 100ml of water & zest of one lemon
Heat on medium for 12 minutes
Strain the mixture (you should have approx. 500ml of strained liquid)
Return to the pan with 350g of sugar. Heat to dissolve the sugar and bring to the boil
Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and bottle!

Thank you to Mandy from @mudpieadventures

Campfire crumble

Cook blackberries (add apples or pears if you like) in some water and sugar until soft
Sprinkle on some value granola and serve when warmed through.

We like to add cold custard!

“Really nice this one & so easy with the granola that doesn’t need any actual cooking!”

Thank you to Sarah from Milford Pre-School Plus

Blackberry ice cream

You will need: blackberries, 3 bananas, tin of full fat coconut milk, maple syrup & vanilla essence.

Slice 3 bananas. Pop them onto a baking tray and into the freezer, and put your unopened can of coconut milk into the fridge to keep cool. This will make your ice cream lovely and smooth
While waiting for the bananas to freeze go for a walk to forage some blackberries
When you get home, put the blackberries into water for five minutes to clean them and get rid of any other little guests
Put all your ingredients into a blender… whizz until smooth and pour into a container
Freeze for 3 hours and it’s done!

Thank you to @roxannes_little_explorers

Here are some of our recipes:

Blackberry & apple jam

Mmmm... what's not to like?! A traditional jam recipe for foraged fruits.

Blackberry Craft

Blackberry Mash Tie Dye

Forage for your blackberries, pour a cup in a big pan - mash, mash, mash! Pour in some cold water, mash some more. Add fabric (carefully rolled and tied by an adult) and mash in the purple water.

Thank you to @littlepuddlepeople

Blackberry ink silhouettes

We love this idea from @ForestSchoolFun - use leaves and blackberry ink (smashed up blackberries) to make silhouette shapes - what other items could you use to make shapes?

@ForestSchoolFun used cotton to print their shapes onto - maybe they made bunting with them. What else could work?

More blackberry ideas to try

You might be also be interested in our Natural Dyes activity
Make some blackberry paint
Try making bramble cordage - see our nettle cordage activity for tips

Disclaimer: Muddy Faces cannot take any responsibility for accidents or damage that occurs as a result of following this activity.You are responsible for making sure the activity is conducted safely.