Friday, October 22, 2010

gourd birds: fall craft

feathered friend

My daughter and I recently attended a wonderful birthday party where the favorite activity was making "gourd birds". With simple craft supplies: craft feathers, push pins, and googlie eyes the children created the most amazing flock. We brought ours home in a recycled paper nest (free formed scrunched paper). Of course, we have never looked at gourds the same way again. Every visit to a farm stand or market had us all searching for the perfect beak or interesting neck. We obviously needed to make a family for our feathered friend above. So I asked the party girl's mother if we might share this project with all of you while we were at it. She let me know that they had originally made them for their Sunday school class as part of the preparations for Sukkot ,and that there were many options for decorating that we hadn't tried: fashioning eyes and feathers from magazine pages, pipe cleaner feet...
gourd bird supplies
With the idea that we might try our hand at creating other bird "species", out to the woods we went. We looked for leaves, berries, and pods that had sturdy stems and stalks. We had never looked for "bird eyes" before, so this was an exciting treasure hunt. With all of our possibilities spread out, I poked holes with a push pin right where my daughter directed. Gourds have tough skin, so it's best that this job is left to grown ups and older children. The adorning is the fun part, kind of like a Mr. Potato Head!
poking
gourd birds
After some disappointments with leaf stems breaking, I came up with the idea of toothpicks and corn husks.
gourd bird feathers
Toothpicks ended up being the perfect material for feet, too!
gourdy
Don't you think these lovely fowl would be perfect in a fall centerpiece or as part of your family nature table?
gourdy's wishes Pin It

27 comments:

  1. My Goodness! This is so cute! Looks like we have an activity planned this weekend now :)Thank you for sharing.

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  2. They are lovely! Time to pick up some gourds.

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  3. I have been looking for a Thanksgiving weekend craft to do with kids that involves getting out in the woods to hunt up materials. This might do it!

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  4. Wow these are amazing! I love the last one, he's so elegant. Great project!

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  5. wow! they really came to life!
    i have a burlap paired with gourd checker game up on my blog that made me think of you : ) enjoy the weekend!

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  6. I can't believe how realistic they look. I can't wait to try this for thanksgiving.

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  7. Oh my goodness this looks like such fun! My girls would *love* this project!

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  8. fantastic! isn't it cool how a pair of eyes completely transforms and gives instant personality?

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  9. Great idea ~ you could make them look like turkeys for thanksgiving decorations!

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  10. What!?! This is out of control cute and so clever.

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  11. this is so cute and easy for little ones to create!my kids will love that game and transformation! have a wonderful and creative weekend!

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  12. Superbe, magnifique !
    My English vocabulary lacks of words to tell you : what a wonderful idea !!!

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  13. I really love the ones made of natural materials. Lovely work!

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  14. What a brilliant idea for a party. I have no idea what a gourd is, but I'm sure I could find some other type of squashy-pumpkiny vegie to make it work. x

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  15. Maya these are SO fantastic! How great they'd be for Thanksgiving table decor!

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  16. this is just fantastic!!! what a funny idea! I love it! we must try this!

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  17. Those are hilarious. I love them!

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  18. They are lovely! Time to pick up some gourds.what a funny idea! I love it! we must try this!Really enjoying your blog a great deal! Thank you!

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  19. Oh, my WORD! These are SO cute!

    Just love 'em. :)

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  20. WAW, These are sooooo awesome. May I borrow a picture and recoment your blog and this projekt?

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  21. I really enjoyed these. Thanks for sharing such a fabulous idea. We are going to my mom's for Thanksgiving and she grows gourds so I'm excited to try this idea out : )

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  22. You are talking my language! Just spotted these on Crafty Crow. Brilliant use of gourds.

    I actually dried several of these kinds of gourds a couple years ago - now with you great ideas, i can possible make a bird or two that will last through the years.

    Thank you!

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