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UK home and garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for busy family life, written by Catherine Hughes

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Nature craft: making a wooden whistle

October 5, 2016 by Catherine 19 Comments

nature craft making twig whistles

Today I’m sharing another lovely nature craft that we did on our recent trip to Skylarks nature reserve in Nottingham.

As well as doing some fab clay pressing with natural materials, the kids also had a go at making a wooden whistle from twigs.

I can vividly remember having one of these made for me when I was six years old and we were on holiday in Canada; it was so exciting watching it take shape, but I didn’t get hands-on like my kids did here!

You definitely need lots of adult supervision for this craft, as it involves using some sizeable tools.  My nine year old did a lot of it himself; the grown-ups did the tricky bits for my five year old, but she still got really involved with some stages.

The first job was to choose a couple of nice, straight sticks.  One needs to be thinner than the other – you’ll see why later.

how to make twig whistles - choosing a twig

I know our thin sticks (which you can see in the picture above) were willow, but I’m not sure what type of wood our thick sticks were – if you recognise them let me know!

Once we were happy with our choice of sticks, the next job was to drill a hole into the thicker stick.  You don’t need to go all the way to the bottom here.

how to make a wooden whistle - drilling the hole

Once you’ve made your hole, you need to saw a little notch of wood out of your stick that goes through to the hole, but not out the other side.  If I was doing this craft at home with the kids I’d use a much smaller saw, but the Wildlife Trust staff were super-experienced and supervising very carefully.

how to make a wooden whistle - sawing the notch

Next, we checked that the small stick could be pushed into the hole.

how to make a wooden whistle

You can see the little notch better in this picture – it’s starting to look like a wooden whistle isn’t it?

wooden whistle made from twigs

The next step is a bit fiddly; you need to remove the thin stick and carefully strip away a slice from the end.  You may need to do this a few times, popping it back into the hole and blowing to see if you get a whistling noise.  If you’re using quite a soft stick, I think a vegetable peeler might be a good tool to use as an alternative to a knife.

how to make twig whistles - trimming the twig

Once you’ve got your whistle actually whistling, you just trim off any excess thin stick and you’re done!  As you can see here, you could strip all the bark off if you’d like a different finish to your whistle.

wooden whistle made from twigs

This wooden whistle nature craft was a lot more grown-up than anything the kids have done before; it felt like a real bushcraft activity.  It definitely needs an adult to oversee everything, and take over with the tools at some points, but the kids absolutely loved being allowed to get stuck in – under careful supervision of course!

NATURALLY CRAFTY

If you’re looking for craft inspiration, take a look at the ‘Naturally Crafty’ nature craft linky which I co-host for lots of ideas – and do share yours with us too.naturally crafty

Me You and Magoo

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Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Bushcraft, Children, craft, naturally crafty, Nature, Nature Craft, Outdoors, Sticks

« Five tips for increasing family time outdoors
Naturally Crafty #15 – a Nature Craft linky »

Comments

  1. Rachel says

    October 6, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    That looks like fun. We did flower printing at a National Trust property recently. Place flowers and plants underneath a pale, thin fabric and whack with a hammer. Very simple and very effective, but not great if you have a headache!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 7, 2016 at 6:32 pm

      Brilliant! Craft combined with getting out your frustrations, I like the sound of that…

      Reply
  2. Kelly Robinson says

    October 6, 2016 at 9:00 pm

    This is such a wonderful activity. I would love to make a wood whistle for me as well as my children hehe. It is a great memory for your children to have and they can keep that whistle for years. I love it. #NaturallyCrafty

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 7, 2016 at 6:31 pm

      Oh yes, I think the grown-ups should definitely make their own too 😉 My kids do love a craft that results in something they can keep and this one is great for that.

      Reply
  3. Amy Le Pelley says

    October 6, 2016 at 9:11 pm

    What an amazing activity for the family! This is definitely one they will look back on when they are grown. #naturallycrafty Amy x

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 7, 2016 at 6:30 pm

      I’ve certainly remembered having one made for me as a kid, I hope it makes the same impression on them. I suspect we’ll be trying it again before long!

      Reply
  4. Amy @ Very Much So says

    October 7, 2016 at 9:49 am

    Wow, this looks like such a fun activity. A little out of reach for my two year old but definitely one to remember when she’s older. It feels very ‘grown up’ if you know w hat I mean so I’m sure kids would love it #naturallycrafty

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 7, 2016 at 6:29 pm

      Yes it’s definitely one for older kids, mine thought it was wonderful being allowed to have a go!

      Reply
  5. Alana says

    October 11, 2016 at 1:20 am

    This looks like great fun! Something I might wait for my toddler to be a bit older for though.
    Alana x

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 11, 2016 at 12:33 pm

      Lots of fun but yes, give it a couple of years!

      Reply
  6. Relentlesslypurple says

    October 11, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    I would love to do something like this with my girls! It looks so much fun to make & a lot of skill 🙂 x #craftingismytherapy

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 11, 2016 at 2:42 pm

      It wasn’t too daunting skill-wise, you need a bit of patience and crucially the right shaped stick. This last bit was music to my youngest’s ears, she’s never happier than when searching for the perfect stick!

      Reply
  7. Ashley Beolens says

    October 11, 2016 at 7:18 pm

    What an awesome thing to make, looks like a great fun thing to do.

    Reply
  8. Tamsin Mathias says

    October 13, 2016 at 12:07 pm

    That is such a cool idea! I totally want to try it now. Haha! xx

    #ChasingNature

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 13, 2016 at 12:48 pm

      It’s lots of fun, hope you manage to have a go!

      Reply
  9. Jennifer says

    October 14, 2016 at 11:12 am

    These look fab, my children would love to have a go at this although I’m not sure that my bush craft skills are up to it! Thanks for linking up to #CraftingismyTherapy

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 14, 2016 at 2:29 pm

      Ha ha yes you do need a bit of skill, but I’m pretty useless at that kind of thing and I managed it – I would say a bit of patience is probably more important!

      Reply
  10. Kelly Robinson says

    October 15, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    I wrote on here last week from a different linky. I do love this idea and would love to give it a go. Thank you for linking up again to #ChasingNature and we hope to see you back next week!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      October 17, 2016 at 8:28 pm

      Thanks Kelly, hope you manage to give it a try!

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Catherine. Welcome to Growing Family, a top UK home & garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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