Celebrate conker season with Muddy Faces
"If you have conkers growing near you, they are a lovely resource to link to nature through play and learning. Every time I see a fresh smooth conker I am mesmerised by the swirls and beautiful colours.
I was saddened to see conkers is one of the lost words highlighted in Robert Macfarlane's book. How can these stunning orbs become lost from our children's vocabulary? It seems inconceivable to me.
We have lots of ideas on our outdoor hub to engage with conkers - and hopefully give you even more reason to use the word each autumn. Why not plant a conker?"
Liz Edwards, Muddy Faces director
In some areas of the UK, the unusually hot and dry weather conditions during 2018 have led to conkers growing too quickly and so smaller than usual.
The Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner is an invasive moth larvae that burrows into leaves turning them brown and preventing the full photosynthesis process to occur. A huge number of Horse Chestnut trees in the UK are infected.
To reduce our impact, we collect conkers that have fallen onto the pavement and would inevitably end up being crushed in the road.
If you’re collecting from a more natural spot please collect considerately – you may find our our foraging guidelines useful to help you reduce your impact. And you can always plant more, following our planting tree seeds guide. Don’t forget to collect up the little and misshapen ones that often get ignored - they can come in useful.
The World Conker Championships are being held on the 14th of October in West Sussex (here's their official rules of the game of conkers).
Our one-stop-shop has a diverse selection of practical, educational and inspiring products for all your forest school, outdoor play and learning requirements. Here's a couple to inspire you this autumn.
Conker drilling is a fun autumn activity and this set contains all you need to take part. The set comprises a sturdy conker clamp to keep the conker in place whilst drilling, a set of 3 different sized softwood hand drills to ...
Has a wooden screw to hold conkers in place to enable you to drill holes in them. Can also be used as a nutcracker.
Set of 10 different leaves with their corresponding seeds or fruit – 20 discs in total. Includes an identification card to help you match the correct leaf to its seed or fruit, some string to hang them up and a cloth bag to store everything away. Approx 7-8cm in diameter.
The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. It is a joyful celebration of nature words and the natural world they invoke.
Our Outdoor Hub has a wealth of inspiring activities, events and information. Each section has been designed to encourage engagement in the outdoors, connection with nature and to help spark imaginative play and creativity. This time we're sharing a couple of seasonal conker activities.
INSPIRATIONS - conkers
A great collection of autumn activities using the wonderful conker. Suitable for early years and older children.
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Conker Person
A creative conker craft activity. Simple but so effective - these conker people are easy to make.
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Drilling conkers
An easy introduction to drilling that can result in some amazingly creative pieces of art.
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