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.
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.
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.
Next, we checked that the small stick could be pushed into the hole.
You can see the little notch better in this picture – it’s starting to look like a wooden whistle isn’t it?
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.
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.
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.
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!
Brilliant! Craft combined with getting out your frustrations, I like the sound of that…
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
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.
What an amazing activity for the family! This is definitely one they will look back on when they are grown. #naturallycrafty Amy x
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!
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
Yes it’s definitely one for older kids, mine thought it was wonderful being allowed to have a go!
This looks like great fun! Something I might wait for my toddler to be a bit older for though.
Alana x
Lots of fun but yes, give it a couple of years!
I would love to do something like this with my girls! It looks so much fun to make & a lot of skill 🙂 x #craftingismytherapy
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!
What an awesome thing to make, looks like a great fun thing to do.
That is such a cool idea! I totally want to try it now. Haha! xx
#ChasingNature
It’s lots of fun, hope you manage to have a go!
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
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!
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!
Thanks Kelly, hope you manage to give it a try!