Create Seed Pod Creatures

Gather seeds in all shapes and sizes, then glue them together into fanciful creatures.

Average Rating:	1 2 3 4 5
Participant Age:	7 to 12, 12 and up
Approximate Cost:	Under $10
Duration:	1 to 60 minutes, Over an hour
Difficulty:	1 2 3 4 5
Physical Challenge:	1 2 3 4 5

Bucket or basket for seed gathering
Extension cord, if you'd like to set up your glue gun outside
Glue gun
Pine needles
Scissors
Seeds - pine cones, sunflower seeds, milkweed pods, acorn caps, centers of flowers
Tablecloth or newspaper, to protect your work surface
White beans

Gather seeds.

These materials are most plentiful in the summer and fall. If it is the fall, you might need to gently move leaves and look underneath them.

It helps if you know which plants produce interesting seeds. For example:

Oak - acorns
Pine - pine cones & needles
Maple - "helicopter" seeds

One of the most flexible seed pods for this project is the milkweed. If you can find dried out milkweed pods, they are like the "cardboard" of seed pods. They can be snipped into almost any shape. Plus the fluff inside them is beautiful to watch in the wind.

Make a seed pod caterpillar.
This very simple caterpillar was made from the centers of coneflowers, glued together. They are so spiky, the almost stay together without any glue.

Make a seed pod dragonfly.
This dragonfly's wings are made from milkweed seed pods. Its body is a short twig. Its eyes are acorn caps.

Make a seed pod owl.
The owl's body is made from a pine cone, with a few extra larger pine cone pieces for feet. Its eyes are acorn caps. Its beak is a sunflower seed. Its head feathers are extra pine cone pieces, but maple helicopter seeds would be cute too.

Make a seed pod mouse.
The mouse's body is made from a pine cone. Its ears and nose are from acorn caps. Its eyes are white beans. Its whiskers are pine needles.

Make a seed pod octopus or spider.
Its body is a pine cone. Its legs are thin slices of milkweed pod. The tuft on its head is a coneflower center. Its eyes are white beans.

Make a seed pod porcupine.

The porcupine is similar to the mouse except pine needs form its needles. They were easy to stick into all the crevices of the pine cone with a tiny bit of glue on each clump.

Design your own creatures.

Adapt to the seeds you find in your neighborhood!

Learn more tips about collecting seeds for crafts and gardening.

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Create Seed Pod Creatures

Gather seeds in all shapes and sizes, then glue them together into fanciful creatures.
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