Forest School & Outdoor Play: Conker Necklace Activity

Looking for a fun and engaging activity for your forest school sessions? Or maybe you’re a parent looking for something creative to do in autumn with your kids. Either way, you’ve come to the right place. Creating with conkers is an autumn pastime for adults and kids alike. I remember spending hours making all sorts of little statues with conkers, as well as playing my siblings at a game or two of conkers. Conkers are fun to collect and even more fun to play and build with, so let’s learn more about creating conker necklaces for forest school/outdoor play activities for kids.

Here at Lukeosaurus and Me, we have tonnes of activities involving conkers. Check out our collection by clicking here: What To Do With Conkers: 40 Ways To Use Conkers.

Tools Needed For This Conker Necklace Activity

Obviously, the first thing that you’ll need for this outside play activity is conkers. Conkers – or horse chestnuts – are readily available all over the UK in autumn. Have your students collect some before coming to your forest school class, or go on an adventure with your own kids to collect some. Whilst you’re out and about, you may wish to take a minute or two to appreciate the first signs of autumn – how many can you spot?

If you are lucky enough to have a forest school programme as part of your school’s extracurricular activities, you may want to consider requesting donations of conkers. Adding a little note to the school’s weekly email is a great way to get the word out and allow parents and students to contribute to the school in a way that doesn’t cost a penny!

Other equipment and tools needed for this outdoor activity include:

• Twine or string
• Palm drills
• Conker clamps
• Children’s work gloves

Palm drills and conker clamps are absolutely fantastic tools to have in your educational arsenal – whether you’re a forest school teacher or a parent aspiring to get outside and participate in nature activities more often.

Conker clamps are also extremely useful tools that help children hold the conkers in place whilst they are using the palm drill. Children can slip when using the drills – especially in autumn when the weather can be wet and rainy – therefore, the combination of the kids’ work gloves and the conker clamps makes everything a lot easier and safer.

Personally, I am a big fan of the palm drills and conker clamps that are available on the Muddy Faces online store. You can also purchase palm drills on Amazon, as well as wooden nut crackers*, which are essentially the same thing. I know that some educators prefer to use Amazon, as you can use various cash for schools schemes!

Things To Note Before Starting This Outdoor Play Activity

When planning a forest school activity, it’s worth remembering that kids will have their own ideas about what looks good and how an activity should be carried out. As long as you are on hand to supervise the safe use of the tools needed to craft with conkers, feel free to let the kids explore the materials and create in a way that suits them.

Make sure the children have a good, sturdy surface, like a table or a workbench, to lean on when drilling holes into conkers. Ensure that the children wear a work glove on the hand they’re using to hold the conker in place (ideally, all children involved should have a pair of gloves).

Precutting a good length of twine before the children arrive is advisable, as it can get a bit hectic. Make sure there’s plenty of length for the children’s necklaces so they cannot harm themselves.

Making Necklaces From Conkers

Now, all that’s left to do is to use the palm drills to create holes in the conkers. If the children are using conker clamps, the conkers will be secure no matter which way up they are. However, if children choose to hold the conker themselves when drilling, it’s best to place the flattest side flush with the table. This is usually the side that has the lighter spot of colour on it.

Children can drill through as many conkers as they’d like when creating their necklaces. Some children may choose to go for some simple forest school chic and only use one conker on their necklace, whereas others may choose to go for a chunky statement necklace by using as many conkers as they can manage!

Once the children have created their necklaces, it’s time to take the two ends of the twine and tie them together. Be sure to leave plenty of room so that the children cannot harm themselves.

Forest School Conker Creations – Alternatives To Necklaces

It’s not just necklaces that you can make with conkers in forest school! Children can continue with the jewellery theme if they wish and create chunky bracelets using the same method as highlighted above.

Conker Accessories

For children looking to accessorise their outfits with conkers, hot glue can be used to attach conkers to hair clips to create a natural, autumnal hair accessory. The same method can also be used to make conker broaches.

Conker Models

Is it really autumn without conker models? Palm drills can be used to create shallow holes in conkers and small sticks or cocktail/kebab sticks can then be inserted to help create autumn models. We have made elephants, giraffes, dogs, cats, and all sorts of animals with only a few conkers, sticks, and a marker pen.

Pipecleaners can be used to create these super cute conker spiders. Conker spiders are easy to make – the instructions linked above are easy to modify for forest school and outdoor play.

Pencil Toppers

Another fun way to use conkers in forest school or during outdoor play is to make pencil toppers. Again, this can be achieved using palm drills, but ensure that children do not drill all the way through the conkers. Children can decorate their conkers however they see fit using marker pens or acrylic paint pens. Once the conkers are dry, pop them on top of each child’s pencil.

Children may need to overlap their drill holes to ensure that the gap is wide enough for a pencil to fit in.

Playdough Accessories

Kids love playdough – there’s definitely no arguing with that! Whether you’re hosting forest school or you’re just enjoying some outdoor play, making your own playdough and allowing children to explore it with natural learning aids is a great sensory experience. Conkers can be used alongside other natural materials that are found during autumn, such as acorns, pinecones, and sticks.

Making Conker Necklaces Using Palm Drills – Kid’s Outdoor Play Activity

This forest school/outdoor play activity encourages children to explore nature. It also helps children to develop their fine motor skills by encouraging them to use palm drills and then thread twine through the holes they’ve created. Being outside in nature and learning about the UK’s native wildlife with a hands-on approach is incomparable to classroom lessons on nature.

If you have tried any of the ideas mentioned in this post, please let me know how you got on by using the comment box below.