Make a Twig Reindeer

 

 

 

 

Find a few twigs on your next woodland walk and you will have the main ingredients you need to make a twig reindeer.  The simplicity and naturalness of the branches used makes a really wonderful Christmas decoration. 

We collected twigs from several walks.  We found that those from horse chestnut trees were ideal as they had thin branches that divided nicely like reindeer antlers.  We also cut some stems from the green and red dogwood in the garden.  So you don’t have to go too far for your supplies.  This meant we started with a lovely bunch of twigs which actually look quite good on their own in the vase.

 

 

Any young children helping with this project will need to be assisted with cutting the twig.  You could use scissors or just snap any very thin twigs.  For the thicker stems I used secateurs.

For the body you will need a piece of twig about 8/9 inches long.  Then you will need 2 “Y” shaped stems about 7 inches in length (though you could go shorter to about 4 inches).  You then need to attach the legs to the body.  Set them back about 1 to 1/2inch along the body.  We firstly tried to glue together.  However as this seemed not be too easy we opted for tying with red twine.  I think this also adds to the overall image of the reindeer.  We tied as tight as possible and kept the reindeer on its side until both sets of legs were on.  The front set of legs was very slightly inclined backwards.   You need to cut the stem on the back “Y”.



Choosing the piece de resistance was the best bit of the whole project.  We opted for some twigs that my son had found still with a few leaves on.  They were perfect.  Again we tied the two antlers to the neck in 2 different places, rather than sticking them with glue.

We will be making more of these in the coming days as it is a great way of bringing the outdoors inside – though not sure we make enough for them to pull Santa’s sleigh.  Merry Christmas.

Out2Play in Scotland

As a family we have just spent two weeks in Scotland enjoying the delights of the outdoors and mountain scenery in the North West Highlands. We camped at Glenbrittle, right by the Cuillin mountains and a lovely sandy cove on the Isle of Skye. Then we rented a farmhouse on the west coast of the mainland in an area called Torridon.

The campsite was a fabulous garden itself, full of wildflowers and long grasses, the cliff tops were crammed with wildflowers and there was fantastic vegetation on all of the lower slopes of the mountains. My son managed a number of 4/5 hours walks uphill. He learnt to identify deer track. He smelt bog myrtle, felt how soft cotton grass was and added sundew to his list of carnivorous plants. His shell, crab and rock collection was extensive. I came across geum rivale, Water Avens, for the first time and we all learnt to identify the different types of shells collected.

Our farmhouse was on the Coulin estate right in the middle of Torridon and next to the Beinn Eighe (pronounced ‘A’) Nature Reserve. The first national nature reserve to be set up in the country in the 1950s. This meant we have the luxury of walking in the estate from 3 miles in whereas other walkers had to start their walks from the entrance to the estate. One of our walks passed a mountain bothy. Bothys are maintained by a charity, the Mountain Bothies Association.  They describe the use of a bothy as camping without a tent. The one in Torridon was called Easan Dorch (The Teahouse) and is unusual as it is a relatively recent bothy. Most I have passed and stayed in have been converted cottages or barns. This was very cute and actually looked similar to a children’s playhouse. It is very small but would be a great place for children to stay overnight. All bothies are also useful also a lunch stop on a rainy day or when you need to avoid the midges.

On the non-walking days we fitted in two visits to Scottish gardens. I was intrigued by Attadale Gardens in Strathcarron, Wester Ross as it had been voted Gardeners World Magazine readers 1st choice of Scottish garden and best day out for kids. The garden is hidden well from the road and is full of natural planting and bridges and small pathways some forming secret passages especially in the water garden. It has a fantastic giant sundial and is full of sculpture. The cheetah and chameleon were my son’s favourite. Mine was a piece of rock engraved with the words ‘Life is not a rehearsal’. They had a great display in the self service tea room with maps of the world showing where all the plants in the garden had come from.

The National Trust for Scotland’s garden at Inverewe is a must for a visit. Its highlight is the walled garden. It really is to die for as it is a walled garden with the most spectacular views. Go and see it just for this.

Back home and we find that the strawberries have ripened, the carrot seedlings planted close to the house have disappeared, and something has been eating our onions – I thought they would be slug proof.

Out 2 Play at Kew Gardens

If you live near west London then Kew Gardens is a great place to visit. It has all the elements of a garden on a grand scale. In the summer the gardening students each have an allotment plot to plan and manage so you can even pick up some tips for growing veg.

There is so much there for children, space to run around, fish in two of the glasshouses, a tree top walk, lakes and ponds and my favourite a huge badger sett where the children can run in and out of the tunnels. There is also a large indoor play area with a botanical theme, called climbers and creepers (suitable for 3 to 9 years old, though the littlies can still use it) and a new outdoor area yet to be tested as it will not be open until Easter. So we were there this half term spotting snowdrops and smelling the viburnum.

The Princess Diana glasshouse was hosting a colourful display of orchids, with a parallel craft activity at climbers and creepers creating exotic flowers, with paper plates and tissue paper. Quite an easy thing to do at home. We did go and look at the orchids but the biggest attraction for the children were the other new ( i think ) occupants of the glasshouse, lizards which are roaming around helping to keep the cockroach population at bay.

Lynda