“Natural material. How to collect and store? Heat drying of herbs. Rules for using an awl

09.06.201927.05.2017

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1. The value of designing from natural material

The natural world around us is rich, beautiful and infinitely diverse. Introducing a child into this world, revealing his uniqueness, teaching him to love and take care of nature is the task and duty of adults. This must be done as early as possible, from the child’s first steps on the ground. This is where the system of continuous environmental education should begin - from the sphere of preschool education.

The relevance of the topic I have chosen is as follows: humanity is the main factor in the emergence of environmental problems on the planet.

Only now is society beginning to understand that the problems that have arisen arose as a result of its own incorrect activities on Earth, and they will not disappear by themselves.

That it is necessary to direct all efforts to eliminate these problems, to preserve natural resources, those riches of nature that people simply cannot do without. And in order to competently help nature, first of all, we need environmental education.

Without certain knowledge of the ecological foundations and laws of nature, a person will not be able to help nature, or even harm it even more with his illiteracy.

That is why it is so necessary to begin introducing children to nature as early as possible, to instill a love for it from the very beginning. early years so that in the future they do not repeat the mistakes of modern society, and society, in turn, should try to normalize the current state of the natural environment for our children.

We can say that all this forms a single chain: we form an ecological culture in children from an early age, therefore, when they grow up, they will love, understand and, most importantly, take care of nature, and then there will be no environmental problems on the planet

All outstanding thinkers and teachers of the past attached great importance to nature as a means of raising children: Ya.A. Comenius saw in nature a source of knowledge, a means for the development of the mind, feelings, and will.

He attached great importance to nature and K.D. Ushinsky, he was in favor of “introducing children into nature,” in order to tell them everything accessible and useful for their mental and verbal development. Ideas by K.D. Ushinsky found further development in the works of E.N. Vodovozova, E.I. Tikheyeva, who paid a lot of attention to nature as a means of mental education of children preschool age,

E.N. Vodovozova reveals the role of observation as the most accessible means of familiarizing young children with objects and phenomena of the surrounding nature. In her opinion, observation for children provides rich food for the development of the child's mind and aesthetic feelings.

E.I. Tikheyeva saw nature as a means of sensory education for children. Indeed, nature, as an inexhaustible source of forms, colors, sounds, can be widely used for the purpose of sensory education of preschool children.

A comprehensive study of issues of sensory education of preschool children in productive activity, carried out under the leadership of A.V. Zaporozhets and A.G. Usova showed that training and the corresponding organization visual arts, construction, work in nature, didactic games have an effect in the sensory development of the child. Preschoolers consistently and purposefully learn the properties of objects - shape, size, color, density, etc., corresponding to perception skills.

In a number of scientific works (A.I. Vasilyeva, N.K. Postnikova, I.A. Khaidurova, etc.) indirectly related to issues sensory development Children are shown the importance of analyzing perception (the ability to see signs of natural objects) for the development of children's activities in the process of older preschoolers learning the relationships in nature. That. Pedagogical work to familiarize preschoolers with nature reveals the possibility and necessity of developing sensory skills in children.

Thus, according to almost all outstanding teachers, familiarization with nature plays a huge role in mental, aesthetic and moral development (education), and sensory education is the main means of raising children and their comprehensive development. Sensory education is a very important component, because knowledge about nature, creatures, plants will be learned better when the child is offered not just to look at a living or inanimate nature, but also touch it, stroke it, that is, examine it. Then the child, based on the experience gained, will be able to learn the material much better. IN in this case the cognitive process - perception - works, orienting the child in the flow of signs affecting him. After all, it is known that the more analyzers are connected (auditory + visual + analyzer (tactile) + etc.), then in the process of obtaining new information, its assimilation will be more successful.

T.V. Bashaeva believes that the perception of an object with the help of various senses gives a complete and correct idea of objects, helps to recognize an object by one or more properties. A memory of some striking property of an object can evoke in a child memories of the entire object. In the process of including all senses in perception, the individual abilities of the child can be revealed, which are based on the increased sensitivity of some organs.

Sensory development in preschool age forms the foundation of mental development, and mental abilities begin to form early and not by themselves, but in close connection with the expansion of activity, including general motor and manual activity. The development of thinking begins with the hand. If a child touches an object, then the muscles and skin of the hands at this time “teach” the eyes and brains to see, touch, distinguish, and remember. The hand cognizes, and the brain records sensation and perception, connecting them with the visual, auditory and olfactory into complex integrated patterns and representations.

P.N. Samorukova believes that not a single didactic material can compare with nature in terms of diversity and strength of developmental impact on the child. Objects and natural phenomena are clearly presented to children. That. directly, with the help of the senses, perceives the variety of properties of natural objects: shape, size, sounds, spatial arrangement.

In older preschool age, children have a number of features in sensory development that must certainly be taken into account when working with children:

· visual perception becomes the leading one when familiarizing yourself with the environment;

· sensory standards are fully mastered;

· purposefulness, planning, controllability, awareness of perception increases;

· with the establishment of relationships with speech and thinking, perception is intellectualized.

It can be argued that sensorimotor development forms the basis of mental education. Enrichment of sensory and motor activity leads to an increase in the number of intersynaptic connections, which plays a big role in improving research function. The development of motor function activates the development of memory and speech centers. How better baby moves, the better he will speak

2. Collection and storage of material

Some important advice about how to properly collect and store various natural materials - pine cones, shells, flowers, leaves, etc. - for crafts.

A person who does handicrafts will certainly find various natural materials collected with his own hands useful - pine cones, shells, flowers, leaves... To achieve best result When collecting and storing them, a number of simple rules should be used.

* Flowers and leaves should be collected at the peak of their bloom.

* Color will inevitably fade, so look for the brightest colored specimens.

* Plants should not be collected in plastic bags, since they create high humidity - a favorable environment for the proliferation of microbes. It is best to collect in paper bags.

* The worst time to collect flowers is the middle of the day, when the plants contain the maximum amount of moisture, which the flower can get rid of if it is placed in a vase with water for an hour or two. It is best to collect plants before noon, when the dew has already evaporated.

* Flowers are collected on dry days (before noon), giving preference to recently opened buds.

* After collecting the material, immediately begin drying it.

* The most effective way to preserve color and shape is to use a microwave oven.

* Dried stocks should be stored in a dry place, avoiding high humidity and direct sunlight.

* After collecting, pine cones should be laid out on parchment paper or foil and heated at low temperature in the oven.

* Free the shells from living organisms by boiling them for several minutes; remove the remains with tweezers. Or another way: you can pre-freeze the shells overnight. And after the shells thaw, use the method described above.

* You can clean shells in a solution of bleach and water at a ratio of 1:1. Leave the shells in it until the top layer (as if covered with skin) is erased.

3. Materials and tools

When making toys, additional materials are often used:

Paper. There are writing, poster, filter, envelope, landscape, velvet, cover, wallpaper, poster, copying, parchment, and wrapping paper. Types of paper differ from each other in thickness, density, color, and purpose.

Children love to work with colored paper of various shades, which is easy to cut, bend, and glue.

Foil. This is the name given to thin metal sheets (made of non-ferrous metals or alloys - lead, tin, aluminum) used to decorate crafts and bookbindings.

Plasticine. This material is used to fasten parts of less complex toys (when working with natural materials in kindergarten For this purpose, glue is often used), as well as for sculpting some parts of the craft at the initial stages of work.

Wire is a necessary material for fastening parts of a toy, in particular for making the frame of toys from straw, and for other purposes. The most convenient copper wire (it is soft, flexible and durable) with a diameter of 0.35, 0.29 mm. For the toy frame you need a wire of a larger diameter - 1 - 1.5 mm.

It is better to use thick, colored threads (No. 10).

You need different brands of glue: white PVA glue, Mars glue, BF, etc. However, it is better for preschoolers to use PVA glue.

Colored scraps - scraps of various fabrics - are also useful for decorating crafts.

The use of each type of additional material will depend on the concept, manifestation of creativity, skill, ingenuity of children, and the degree of development of their imagination.

Additional materials used include plywood, flints, pebbles, small stones, grape seeds, fishing line, and bristles.

To store additional material, you need to have a small box with cells designed for each type of material. The box can also be located in a sectional cabinet, on a shelf. To make crafts, in addition to the material, you need to have the simplest tools

Awl. The length of the awl handle should be approximately 5-7 cm, diameter - 1.5-2 cm; the length of the piercing part is 3-3.5 cm. The awl should not be very thick, but made of durable material.

Scissors. To work, children need small scissors with blunt ends, with rings that match the size of the child's hand.

You need a large sewing needle; it must be stored on a small napkin or in a needle case with a thread threaded into it.

A simple pencil is necessary for drawing an outline on paper when cutting out parts or a planned toy, for example a scarf for a nesting doll, etc. Pencils of varying softness are used (preferably 2 M).

Paints are necessary for decorating individual parts of the toy (an apron for a doll, a collar for Pinocchio, etc.). It is recommended to use gouache paints (covering) in special sets or in separate bottles. This thick paint must be diluted with water before painting.

Brushes (soft for painting, harder for glue). For painting, it is better to use squirrel brushes (No. 4 and 6). Before painting, you should remember the working techniques: the brush needs to be well soaked with paint; lines should be drawn once; You can only move the brush in the direction of the pile, otherwise it will become shaggy. To make the drawing beautiful, you must remember to dip the brush in the paint in a timely manner, and do not brush over one place several times.

For glue you need special brushes with hard bristles. Glue is used to join many toys made from natural materials; it is especially necessary for joining parts of crafts made from shells.

A stack is a tool used in the process of modeling clay or plasticine (to process the surface of a product). Stacks come in a variety of sizes; for children, a length of 10-12 cm is recommended. The stack can be easily made, for example, from a worn-out brush: sharpen one end of it, and cut off the other on both sides and round it.

Preferably nail clippers or with a folded, twisted front part. They are used for twisting wire when making toys from straw, sponge and other materials.

Only the teacher uses pliers, pliers, and a drill.

To make crafts from shells, in addition to general tools, you must have a file, a manicure file, gouache of all colors, and light oil varnish specifically for working with this material.

4. Working method

The teacher needs to know well the features of the tools most often used in the manufacture of toys from natural materials and introduce children to them.

The methodology for organizing the work of preschool children with natural materials is based on the principles of didactics: from simple to complex. In this case, the principle of repetition of actions becomes important (for example, when performing new crafts, the teacher relies on the skills that were required and developed in children earlier).

To correctly develop skills in working with the simplest tools and materials, it is necessary to show and explain the teacher, certain practical actions of children (exercises) under the supervision of an adult who monitors the correct execution of operations and the formation of the skill.

The teacher knows well how the children in his group feel about work, whether they want and can work. He judges this by how they accept the adult’s task, how independently they set the goal of the work, how they motivate it (“why are we doing this”).

The incentive for children to show creativity when making toys from natural materials is encouragement and approval of the child’s success.

Ready-made children's works have a great impact on children. They help develop children’s interest in this work and encourage them to take initiative in improving their skills in working with natural materials. For this purpose, the group organizes an exhibition of children's works.

For the full development of a child’s work orientation, parents and adults close to him should be introduced early to work, respect for him, interest in the work of adults, the desire to do something useful for others, bring others joy with his work (for example, give a gift to his mother, grandmother, etc.) March 8, toys for kids, garlands for decoration group room etc.), i.e. cultivate social motivation labor activity.

A child in the process of labor (manual, in particular) feels like an adult, and this consciousness that he is working, working like an adult, brings him joy, supports his interest and love for work.

The teacher organizes work on the toy taking into account these principles, while ensuring that all children are provided with necessary tools and materials to comply with safety regulations.

Children will be more successful in making toys from natural materials if they have the opportunity to do it in other activities. For example, natural materials can also be used in modeling classes: various seeds, nut shells, moss, acorns, their cups, etc. Children love to make appliques from pumpkin seeds and dried leaves. In these classes, children get acquainted with a new technique for gluing appliqué: they apply glue not to the part, but to the place where it will be applied. They are happy to lay out mosaic patterns on boards covered with plasticine from seeds painted with ink in different colors. Such activities contribute to the development of small muscles of the hands and the development of creative ingenuity.

The production of the intended toy is preceded by a large preparatory work. Before starting to create crafts, children are given excursions into nature (to a forest, park, botanical garden, to a river, a forest belt and other places). At the beginning, excursions are carried out frequently (if it is in kindergarten, then targeted walks can be used for this purpose). On such excursions, it is important to teach children to look more closely at the unique beauty of nature, to see the beauty in slender birch trees, majestic oak forests, and the soft rustle of grass.

During the excursion, children can be told that our Motherland is rich in forests; a wide variety of tree species grow in them, representing a huge supply of wood necessary for the national economy of our Motherland.

The forest is our green friend, which delays the melting of snow and protects the homes of people on the river banks from flooding; the forest makes the climate milder and retains moisture for our fields. All our people protect forests and specially restore them where they suffered. It is especially important to monitor scaffolding. Now in our country, in logging sites, they not only float timber by water and ship it by rail, but also organize wood processing there, on site (wood is the material obtained from trees cut down and cleared of knots and bark). Small waste - chips, shavings, sawdust - are used in chemical plants.

During the excursion, the teacher reminds the children that the bark of dried or felled trees (pines, birches) is used to make toys from natural materials; fallen branches and seeds of trees and shrubs. In front of the children, the teacher can do 1-2 simple toys(for example, dragonfly, fish, etc.). This will contribute to the formation of interest in making crafts from natural materials. On the excursion you can take boxes for collecting various leaves, lionfish, seeds, and during the excursion you can organize the collection of branches and twigs that will be needed for making various toys. The teacher tells the children how to collect natural materials, emphasizing that acorns, cones, and berries must be whole and unbruised. Offers to sort material by type, size, color, placing it in baskets or boxes large size.

The collected dry roots, branches, cones, and twigs have a bizarre shape. The teacher invites the children to answer the questions: “What does it look like? What does it remind you of?” encourages children to compare and remember acquaintances fairy-tale heroes, look carefully, fantasize, think in advance about what material what can be made from (what composition to create with the participation of men, animals, birds, fish, etc.), what interesting scenes (for example, three little pigs, a fox, a rooster, Bremen musicians, wolf and hare, etc.). The collection of material organized in this way allows children to actively perceive its color and smell. Throughout the conversation, the teacher encourages children to make observations, develops their imaginative perception and imagination: in seeds, cones, driftwood, see funny people, animals, birds, insects. So, for example, while looking at maple lionfish on a walk, the teacher asks the children what they look like; children remember: a grasshopper’s wings are shaped like this, even the color is green. Here, on a walk, you can make a grasshopper. For the head, use dried falling cherries, make the abdomen from a birch catkin, which is even curved, like a real abdomen. Each child makes a grasshopper according to his own design. During the work, the teacher helps the children and encourages those who help their comrades who are lagging behind. After the tour, it is advisable to have a conversation. So, for example, on a walk the children found an anthill; The teacher explained what benefits ants bring. We examined the ant and saw how deftly and quickly it moves along the ground. And during the conversation, you can clarify what other insects children know, what their lifestyle is, body shape, number of legs, what benefits or harm they bring.

Another time, children can be asked to look at a dragonfly; To make a dragonfly toy, use linden lionfish, for the head - cherry pits, and make the abdomen from a dried wheatgrass spikelet. In this kind of conversation, ingenuity and ingenuity develop, concepts and ideas expand, knowledge deepens, and speech is enriched.

When children learn where and how acorns and chestnuts grow, and learn to see parts of supposed toys in them, they can begin to complete the task. At the same time, at the beginning of work you don’t have to strive for a wide variety of crafts. On the contrary, teach children to make the same toy from different materials, paying attention to the fact that the plasticine for fastening is matched to the color of chestnuts and acorns, and that the parts of the toy must be firmly and neatly connected.

Excursions into nature will precede work on toys and preparatory group. Each excursion is an encounter with nature. But children do not immediately see its beauty. The task of the educator is to continue to teach to see this beauty, to teach to see nature, to love it and to form a desire to protect it.

In the preparatory group, children already know the excursion places. It is necessary to continue to teach children to notice changes in seasonal phenomena. Children 6-7 years old can already do a lot on their own. During the excursion, they make toys, collect materials, and see images of future crafts. The teacher reminds the children of the requirements for the collected material. For this purpose, organizes the game “Collecting Material”. Together with the children, he determines the location of the receiving sorting point, selects a forest (park) duty officer who will monitor nature conservation, a quality controller for the collected material, etc. The excursion can end with a conversation about the beauty and richness of nature, about its protection in our country . As a result, the teacher reports that in the preparatory group the children will be able to make various toys, both the ones they made and the new ones they like.

In a conversation about the excursion, the teacher clarifies the children’s impressions of what they saw and the new knowledge acquired. Now you can move on to making toys from natural materials. To make a toy, the child is taught to do a thorough inspection (analysis) of a sample, drawing, photograph of the toy; determine not only external characteristic features, but also the details of the craft, how to connect it. Correct analysis of the structure of making a toy is a particularly important link in the work. In the process of such analysis, the child learns to mentally plan the upcoming work by analogy with the model.

Working on a toy develops orienting and research activity in children. Therefore, it is important that the teacher does not explain everything himself during the process of making the toy. Good results can be achieved when children are forced to think out, complete, and analyze actions themselves.

Thus, children’s work in making crafts from natural materials begins with mastering the method of making a toy according to a model made by the teacher in advance. Seeing an object in front of them, children can easily analyze the structure of the craft, determine how to connect the parts, think through and plan the course of the upcoming project. To master this skill, the teacher invites the children to create several toys based on the model he created during the analysis of the task. At the same time, the teacher must ensure that all his actions are accurate and that all children can see them. If after this the children find it difficult to start working, the teacher again explains the sequence of making the toy.

After successfully mastering the method of making a toy according to a sample, you can move on to making toys according to the drawing (photo). And here the use of a schematic sketch of a toy, which will facilitate the transition from visual-effective thinking to concrete-figurative thinking, can be of great help to children. A. R. Luria pointed out the effectiveness of using this technique. He noted that in the model sample nothing was visible except the outline. This puts the child in unusual conditions of independent creative activity and contributes to the manifestation and development of his creative thinking.

Work using drawing models can be structured as follows. The components of almost all toys are slightly modified geometric shapes, which children can easily draw. In the first such lesson, after analyzing the sample, the teacher invites the children to see how he will draw a model of the toy being performed, after which they repeat on paper the drawing given by the teacher. In the future, at the initial stage of using a drawing of a toy model, the teacher should help the children make it correctly, after which the children will be able to. make such a drawing yourself.

Using this technique will enable children to imagine the overall progress of a task, constantly see a goal in front of them, a project for the result of the work, and at the same time will contribute to the development of ideas and creative thinking.

The application of the proposed sequence for the production of drawings of toys, of course, does not exclude any changes that the teacher can make. The teacher himself can find successful methods of working when analyzing a sample in order to interest children (make a riddle about the subject, etc.).

Summarizing the analysis of the work of making crafts from natural materials according to a sample, we can outline a general characteristic scheme of the work sequence:

1. Examination and analysis of a toy sample.

2. Establishing a step-by-step sequence of its production with preliminary planning of the progress of work.

3. Choosing a method for connecting parts of the toy.

4. Selection of materials and tools (with the help of a teacher or independently).

5. Making a toy.

6. Analysis and evaluation of children's toys.

Children’s work according to design is of great educational importance when making crafts from natural materials. Such activities help children develop the ability to independently plan activities. Before starting work, the child must first outline the actions, determine their sequence (what to do first, how to connect the torso and head in a toy, etc.). And often children succeed in this already in senior group, and by the end of their stay in kindergarten they successfully complete the task as planned, according to the conditions.

Many crafts are made by children using the same type of material and using the same methods. The teacher helps children identify these techniques and ways of working, teaches them to generalize and transfer them to the making of new crafts. Here it is especially important to maintain continuity in work and rely on previously acquired knowledge. The purpose of forming such generalized ways of working is to develop interest in manual labor, the ability to make crafts, and creative abilities.

When creating toys, the teacher teaches children to combine natural materials. For example, to make a funny bird, you can take a pine cone for the body, make the head from a small acorn of a specific shape, the neck from a branch, the legs from small twigs, and the tail can be a bright fluffy feather. Seeds of various plants (rowan, sunflower, watermelon seeds etc.). For legs and paws, curved tree branches and twigs with an interesting bend are suitable. Deer antlers are intricately curved branches. Cups (bulls) of acorns are a good replacement for hats or pants for little people. Tree bark serves as a good stand for homemade toys when you are planning to make a souvenir toy. From maple and ash lionfish, the ears of a hare, the beard of Karabas-Barabas, the tail and mane of a horse are excellent.

Teaching such skills is best done when children make toys according to design. So, when making “The Wayfarer” they use rose hips, but they weren’t available in this lesson. The teacher asks the children what material can replace rose hips and what can be made from it. designing natural bump baby

When organizing work with natural materials, it is very important to use fiction. Preschool children are highly receptive and impressionable, works fiction are an inexhaustible source of knowledge, inspiration, wisdom, influence the mind and feelings of the child, enriching them, develop artistic taste, promote the development emotional sphere. Preschool children need to read works about nature with a vivid, imaginative description of surrounding phenomena, so that all this has an impact, awakens their imagination, cultivates artistic taste, aesthetic feelings, and love for their native nature.

Literature used

1. Gulyants.E.K., Bazik I.Ya. “What can be made from natural materials”

2. Kutsakova L.V. "Design and manual labor in kindergarten."

3. Nagibina M.I. “Weaving for children from threads, twigs and bark.” - Development Academy.

4. Toporov. Life safety (10-11 grades).

5. Life Safety Magazine No. 4.

6. Life Safety Guide for Schoolchildren.

7. Smirnov A.T., Mishin B.I., Vasnev V.A. ,Life Safety.

8. Internet materials.

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Crafts made from natural materials

Crafts made from natural materials amaze with their diversity. To make them, you will need all kinds of “flying” tree seeds, dried leaves, acorns and chestnuts, rowan berries, intricate sticks and pebbles. Be sure to stock up on moss, pieces of bark, pine cones and river sand. If you ate a watermelon or melon, dry the seeds. What a material for creativity! And so that these riches do not lie dormant, we immediately get to work. We will show you several directions in making crafts from natural materials.

Bottle with colorful sand

To produce it at home, you will need a dry bottle with a wide neck and sand, as well as a funnel made of a thick sheet of paper. To color the sand, use ground crayons or food coloring. The sand needs to be divided into as many parts as you have dyes. In each container, mix the sand and dye thoroughly. Pour it into the bottle through a funnel. Try to bring the layers of sand to a thickness of at least one centimeter. To get not only horizontal layers, but also beautiful vertical transitions, the bottle must be held at an angle. To do this, you can place something quite stable under its bottom. A bottle of sand should not be shaken. A container filled to the top can be “sealed” in various ways. For example, cover the neck with fresh maple leaf, and tie it on top satin ribbon. To get started, practice simply making colorful layers. Next time you can add something interesting to the sand layers. Place beautiful stones, leaves, flowers or other decorations close to the walls of the bottle. As long as they fit through her neck.

Original fir cone

You can make a craft from natural material in the form of one cone or make a whole garland to decorate a room for New Year's holidays. To do this, you will need aluminum food foil and multi-colored foil from candy wrappers. Teach your child to roll pieces of foil into small balls. When there are a lot of such balls, you should decorate the cones with them. To do this, you need to carefully insert each ball between the scales of the cone. To hang the pine cone, take a small rubber band and thread a ribbon through it for a bow. Attach the elastic band itself to the top of the cone by its scales, and then tie a bow.

Children's crafts made from natural materials

Children's crafts made from natural materials enrich, inspire and simply lift your spirits. They can decorate a child's room. You can also give them to relatives and friends.

All kinds of insects

They don't necessarily have to replicate the living originals. To connect all the parts of the “bug” you need multi-colored plasticine. First, lay out the “bug” from the component parts without connecting them. This will help you and your child achieve proportionality and symmetry. The “body” can be a chestnut, an acorn, half a shell from walnut. Take this base into a plasticine ring. A “head” is attached to it - an acorn cap, a rowan berry or a small piece of plasticine different shapes. The “paws” are thin sticks or pine needles. The ends of the “legs” should end with small plasticine balls. “Wings” are obtained from all possible combinations of ash, maple, elm, and pine seeds. They can be pre-painted and varnished. Small dried leaves of willow, poplar or maple are also suitable for this role.

Green face

You will need plastic bottle, grass seeds for cats, a small amount of soil, acrylic paints, chestnuts, acorns and plasticine. Cut off the bottom of the bottle. Fill it with soil mixture to two-thirds of its volume. Sprinkle the grass seeds in a fairly dense layer. Sprinkle them with another small layer of soil on top. Water well. Now all that remains is to paint a cheerful face with paints, and use plasticine to attach acorns or chestnuts over the rest of the surface of the bottle. Let your baby remember to water his craft regularly. When green sprouts begin to appear, it will delight the child. And he will probably want to make another such funny face.

To ensure that children’s crafts made from natural materials are not forgotten, you can make an archive of works, a photo book, and even a photo exhibition. The scale of these events depends only on you. Children receive particular delight from the opportunity to see the result of their labor - a finished craft or toy. Give a special place to the composition of crafts made from natural materials for everyone to see. The craving for creativity in early age requires encouragement!

NATURAL MATERIAL

It is necessary to introduce children to the world of beauty as early as possible: draw their attention to the beauty of flowers, fruits of various plants, autumn leaves, the bizarre shape and color of seashells and inhabitants of the underwater kingdom. Each plant can have a unique appearance: the shape of the leaves, their color, surface, etc., since when working with natural materials, all this must be taken into account. It is necessary at every lesson, during excursions into nature, to remind children that they must treat nature like a steward, protect a flower, shrub, or any plant from senseless destruction.

Let's look at some of the types of plant material most commonly used for various crafts in kindergarten.

Cones (Fig. 1). The fruits of coniferous trees - cones - are an excellent material for voluminous toys and entertaining crafts. In shape they resemble parts of the body of animals and humans. The cones stick together well, they are varied in shape, size and type: cedar, cypress, fir, spruce, pine. For making crafts, it is better to use unopened pine cones, as they are easier to work with.

It is advisable to collect cones (especially pine cones) on moist soil so that they dry out more slowly and retain their shape longer. After collection, they need to be sorted by type, shape and size and placed in separate boxes.

Needles. Pine needles are suitable for making toys, such as a hedgehog, spider legs, cat claws, butterfly antennae, and a doll skirt. They can be collected at any time of the year. There are a lot of needles in places where pine, spruce, and cedar trees grow. You can store them in boxes. It is better to use green pine needles in your work.

Nuts (Fig. 2). In kindergarten, hazelnuts, walnuts, groundnuts, pine nuts, and pistachios can be used to make toys.

Hazelnuts are common in the forests of the central zone of the USSR. They are used as a material for making the heads of toy men (for example, a “cheerful man”) and animals (the head of a cockerel, a hare, etc.). Hazelnuts should be collected ripe in August along with the cap, which can also be used in making toys. Nuts are dried on boards and stored in boxes.

Hazelnut shells are hard. It is difficult to cut with a knife or pierced with an awl. Overdried nuts are difficult to work with, so it is advisable not to use them.

Pine nuts can be useful as an additional material when making the paws of animals, the fists of forest men; They are easily pierced with an awl and stick together well.

Walnut shells (in the form of halves) are used to make boats, carts, turtles, beetles, etc. Both halves of the shell are suitable for making, for example, the head of Santa Claus.

You can split the nuts into the correct halves using a knife, tapping it on top with a hammer. To prevent the nut from jumping and popping out, it must be clamped in a small vice or using pliers. This work should only be done by the teacher.

Groundnuts are very convenient for making toys; They are easily pierced and cut, since their shell is thin. Peanuts are used to make original animal figures (dog, cat). You can store nuts in a dry place, as their shells do not harden when dried.

Chestnut (Fig. 2). Chestnut fruits are a good material for making simple toys. They have a beautiful shiny surface and bright brown color. The shell of a fresh chestnut is thin and can be easily pierced with an awl. Whole chestnut fruits can be used to make the heads and torsos of dolls. It is advisable to store chestnuts in a cool place.

Acorns (Fig. 3). Oak fruits - acorns - come in different shapes and sizes. At one end they are surrounded by a greatly overgrown cup - the plus. Acorns ripen in the fall, in September - October. They are recommended to be collected when they are ripe and fall from the tree. To make toys from acorns, they should not be collected rotten or rotten. At the same time as the acorns, their cups (pluses) on which they are held are also collected. Very pluses good material in addition to acorn, they are often used for various crafts. Acorns should be collected in different sizes and shapes. It is advisable to use fresh acorns for making toys, as they last longer and are easier to work with (dried acorns easily split during processing).

Acorns are very convenient for making figurines of funny people, animals, and various parts for toys from other natural materials. From oblong acorns they make a giraffe, a heron, a horse, a donkey, and the body can be made from a large oblong acorn, and the head from a small, round one. When making funny little people, pluses can be used as hats for them.

Acorns are stored in a cool and damp place.

Bark (Fig. 3-4). It varies according to appearance(color, thickness, surface character). Pine, oak, and birch bark (of medium thickness) is used for stands in the manufacture of various scenes and individual toys from natural materials. In addition, it can be used as an additional material when making toys. From it you can make a stump for a balalaika player, a roof and hanging carriages for a carousel, and simple punt boats.

Coasters and toys made from bark look better if they are varnished, as in this case brown the bark acquires especially beautiful shade.

Birch bark - birch bark (Fig. 4) - one of the most beautiful and durable materials for making toys. IN folk art Russia has long been famous for products made from birch bark. For work, it is advisable to use the bark of birch trees grown on dry soils, since it is denser, stronger and more flexible.

It is advisable to collect birch bark in spring and early summer, when it is easily removed and has the best color, and only from birch trees and branches that have been felled in a storm or cut down. Birch bark is removed like this: an incision is made along the branch or trunk and around the circumference, a strip 20-25 cm wide. The removed bark is cleaned of dirt, moss, wiped with inner sides with a damp cloth, and clean the outside with sandpaper.

Birch bark from fresh trees (cut down by lumberjacks or fallen by a storm) easily delaminates and can be processed, especially if it is placed in hot water (steamed). After steaming, strips of birch bark must be placed under a board with a load, it will be level.

Birch bark is stored in a dry and cool place, as it quickly loses flexibility and curls from the sun. This property of birch bark can be used to create some toys. In order for the birch bark to be twisted, it is enough to immerse it in hot water for a few minutes and dry it. As the birch bark dries, it will curl.

Branches (Fig. 5). A variety of branches are used in the manufacture of certain parts of the craft: arms, legs, necks, etc. For this purpose, it is better to use branches of dogwood, pine, spruce, and lilac. Their branches are elastic and do not break easily when dry.

Collecting branches is a job that requires time, patience, and accuracy. At the same time, it is necessary to constantly remind children that trees need to be protected and that only dry, but not too dry, branches should be collected and used for toys.

Roots (Fig. 5). Roots can also be used for crafts. With their bizarre shapes, they sometimes resemble various animals or parts of their bodies. Here, imaginative vision and observation skills, which need to be developed in children, are especially important. Children's imagination in curved roots will help you see an octopus, spider, etc.

Many old roots or their shoots can be found along river banks. When collecting this material, it is also necessary to remind children that the roots of living trees are inviolable.

The collected roots should be washed and stored in a room with moderate humidity.

Leaves (Fig. 5). Leaves are an interesting and necessary addition when making toys. They can be the most various forms and colors. Children use large oak and maple leaves as a sail for a yacht, raft, or steamship. Leaves can also be used to make butterfly wings and fish fins (these toys are made from pine cones and leaves). It is better to collect leaves in the fall, when they are especially beautiful.

To preserve and subsequently use the leaves, they must be properly prepared. To do this, the collected plant leaves are placed between paper sheets and ironed with a warm iron, then they can be covered with thick paper or thin cardboard and a weight placed on top. During long-term storage, the paper or cardboard between the leaves should be changed from time to time.

Seeds. A valuable addition to toys made from natural materials can be seeds of trees, flowers, and vegetables, for example, maple and ash seeds. They are known to children as lionfish. You can use them to make wings for a dragonfly, ears for a hare, fins for a fish, and linden seeds make good antennas for astronauts and animal paws; You can make eyes from the seeds of watermelon, melon, sunflower, large seeds of flowers such as dawn, azure flowers. It is better to collect seeds in the fall.

Rosehip, rowan (Fig. 6). Various and interesting toys can be made from rose hips and rowan berries. The valuable quality of this material is the availability of its use in work. Rose hips and rowan berries are easily pricked, so the technique for making toys from this material is not complicated.

Work with material better in summer, since fresh berries and fruits are easily pierced with pine needles, wires, and matches.

The berries are not suitable for storage because when they dry, they harden and lose their shape.

From rose hips and rowan berries you can make various toys: gnomes and little people, dogs and kittens, donkey, bright beads, etc.

Water lilies. The fruits of the water lily are shaped like a jug with a narrow neck. Water lilies are used to make animal heads, dishes and other toys and their parts. The collected fruits are dried before work. The stock of this material is stored in a dry and cool room.

Corn cobs (Fig. 7). Corn cobs are also used to make toys.

Work with this material can be organized if children grow corn on their own plot. The cobs should be used without grains!

Various figures are made from them: birds, horses, etc. For work, it is better to use the cobs during the ripening period of corn, then children will be able to perform all the necessary operations independently, without the help of an adult (make cuts, trim, pierce, glue, etc.). Once dry, this material is more difficult to process, so its use in the manufacture of toys becomes undesirable.

Leaves separated from the cobs will also be useful in your work. They are soft and easy to process. From them you can make a hare, a mouse, a dragonfly, a doll, as well as a variety of handbags, belts, ribbons, trims for a doll’s dress, bookmarks, etc. Before work, the leaves are dried, rolled into a wet, wrung-out cloth (the leaves are laid out in thin layer) for 2 - 3 hours, after which the amount needed to make the toy is removed.

Straw. Straw is pleasant to work with: it is smooth, flexible, and fragrant. For crafts, they use straw not only from wheat, but also from oats and rice. It can be collected during excursions to the grain field after the harvest. The straw stalks intended for work must be uncrumpled. They are cut into pieces according to the existing elbows, which are not suitable for work and are cut out. It is better to sort the straw by length and width and store it until the next summer season. Before work, the straw is soaked in boiling water and left in water for a day in a closed container, after which it becomes flexible and elastic.

Straw toys are made by tying and sewing bundles, weaving from a whole strip, weaving from smooth, ironed straw and gluing. For application, after evaporation, the straw is cut into two parts lengthwise and glued onto tracing paper. To obtain different shades, the glued straw is ironed with an iron heated to different temperatures. Glue the straw carefully, carefully applying one part to the other, leaving no gaps. As a result, whole pieces of straw are obtained. The outline of an image (a bird, an animal, flowers, etc.) is drawn on them with a pencil and cut out, the figures are glued onto some kind of fabric or paper, wood (preferably dark in color). This is the easiest way to work with straw. To obtain a more artistic image, the outline of the selected figure is applied to paper. After this, the image is folded in parts, taking into account the main relief lines, which is achieved by varying the directions of the straw. (With the help of the teacher, children perform all types of work.)

If the straw has shades, then it is necessary to take into account not only the direction of the fibers, but also the shades.

Straws can be dyed various colors. It sticks well with PVA glue. Straw makes original, colorful and attractive toys: dolls, animals, fairy tale characters, etc.

Rogoz (Fig. 8). Many residents of the south are well aware of the bright, brown, soft and delicate inflorescence of cattail, the thickets of which are distributed along the banks of lakes, ponds, and rivers. Cattail inflorescences are an interesting material that can be easily processed. It makes funny animal figurines (bears, kittens, etc.), as well as various objects.

Cattail leaves (narrow and long) can also be used to make toys, but only after processing, like corn leaves.

Decorative pumpkins. They come in different shapes and shades. Pumpkins are used to make various crafts, such as figurines of Baba Yaga, girls, etc.; This material is easy to process and, when dried, is well preserved.

Grass. As an addition to the craft, you can use various herbs, but you must remember that the grass becomes brittle when dried. The grass is used to fasten (bind) the parts of the craft.

Moss. When making toys, moss is often used to convey a background, image of vegetation, etc. Moss sticks easily various glues.

Bird feathers. In your work, you can use bird feathers of different sizes, shades, and any quality (chicken feathers, duck feathers, goose feathers, sparrow feathers, pigeon feathers, etc.). Before work, the feathers are washed, dried and combed to restore their natural appearance.

Shells (Fig. 11 - 12). On the banks of rivers, seas, and lakes you can see shell houses abandoned by animals, many of which are interesting in appearance and original in shape - oval, scallop-shaped, heart-shaped, etc.

Collecting shells is done by children together with the teacher during walks and excursions. After collecting, the shells are washed with a small brush (or a toothbrush), after which they are laid out and dried. Dry shells are sorted by type and size. They are stored at any temperature.

You can make animal figures from shells (squirrels, dogs, cats, hares, chickens, crocodile, etc.). Shells are also used as additional material (Cheburashka ears, bird wings, flower petals, etc.).

SAMPLE PRACTICAL WORK IN 1ST CLASS

CRAFTS FROM ACORNES, CONES, NUTS AND OTHER NATURAL MATERIALS

EXAMPLE PRACTICAL WORK IN II CLASS

EXAMPLE PRACTICAL WORK IN III CLASS

EXTRACLUSION WORK

Do you love nature? That thoughtful, slightly sad love that makes you stand for a long time in front of the paintings of Shishkin, Levitan, Ai-Vazovsky, reading the works of,? Do you love nature with that endless love that can take you along untrodden paths for hundreds and thousands of kilometers through mountains and steppes, across abysses and taiga? Do you love nature - a part of your Motherland - with that love that, at the decisive moment of severe trials, will become one of the sources of true heroism?

Love for nature gives birth to love for everything beautiful, awakens deep thoughts in a person, filled with insight into the world of a wonderful dream, into a world where the line between dreams and reality is blurred. From this dream a person draws new strength to accomplish real grandiose deeds that border on fantasy.

Each person sees nature in his own way. One sees it through the perceptions of the great masters of brush, music, words, another can see it for hours! admire the raging sea and stand on a coastal rock with eyes wide open with delight, exposing your bare head to hurricane gusts of wind, carrying shreds of sea foam and bitter-salty spray.

Not everyone manages to connect with nature in such ways. It happens that a person has never been further than the Moscow region with its birch groves, but for him it’s a delight native land is contained in the quiet rustle of the leaves of birch copses, in the purple glow of autumn forest edges, in the haze of morning and evening dawns on the reservoir, in the nightingale chimes.

Nature gives inexhaustible beauty to those who know how to see it, to see not only what outwardly catches the eye, but also what can be seen and known by looking deeper into nature, looking closely at it with the gaze of a seeker.

Uprooted! forest. Stumps with tangled roots were dragged into piles by a tractor. What seems interesting to a person to see in this cemetery of trees? But a seeker came to him with the hands of a skilled magician and the soul of a dreamer, he came and saw among the dried, gnarled roots the horned and bearded head of a goblin, a Baba Yaga, hunched over with old age, thinking about the tree of an old farmer. Dead nature received a second life in human creativity.

A man who can see! This is wonderful! From early childhood, we must cultivate this magnificent quality in children - the ability to see the eternal beauty of life in the nature around us.

Accustomed from childhood to see the beauty of nature, a child acquires an excellent ability to perceive the beauty of art, understand and appreciate it.

True, sincere, deep love for nature is incompatible with selfishness, callousness, and acquisitiveness. The world of the Russian fairy tale has thousands of threads and roots in the wonders of nature, in the depths of the mysterious dense forest, in the depths of human feelings. In fairy tales, Good always dominates over Evil.

Working with forest materials is one of the ways to introduce children to nature, the way in which children learn to see nature through hidden possibilities, through the hidden beauty of these materials. In the acorn, in the cone, in the head of the thistle, there are images of fairy-tale characters, the real embodiment of thoughts, dreams. This is why working with forest materials is so attractive to children of all ages.

Search for the idea. The search for a creative idea or plan is not an accidental acquisition of a successful thought, but a complex creative process determined by the requirements of the educational process at school, creative and technical capabilities.

In the search for a creative idea, which can be briefly defined by the practical concept of “what and how” to do, the main thing is the desire to educate and develop in children positive qualities, aesthetic sense, cultivate hard work.

In the process of forming an idea of the world around us, accumulating life experience Children constantly have questions: “What should I be like? What is good and what is bad? What is beautiful and what is ugly? etc. In short, children form the basis of their future moral character, and the teacher’s task is to use all forms and methods of influence, including through fine arts, help them find the right answers.

Naturally, all answers to questions should be given gradually, but in an intelligible, colorful, and easy to remember form. It’s one thing when children are told with words that they can’t fight, that they need to be careful, and it’s a completely different thing when they see a messy slob or an offender made from a thistle head and other materials.

The question often arises of what is primary and what is secondary: an idea, plan or material, which with its forms and appearance suggests the idea, plot, form, appearance of future work. It happens this way and that. Sometimes there is an idea, but the material suitable for its implementation is very difficult to find. Often it takes a lot of time to find it, and the solution comes suddenly.

For example, for a composition based on the fairy tale “The Frog Princess,” it was necessary to create a frog, but what should it be made from? It is necessary to strive as much as possible to ensure that natural material sounds in the work due to its characteristic natural appearance with minimal human intervention in this matter. For example, an acorn. The good thing about it is that it very successfully conveys the body shape of a little man. It is precisely this kind of material that is needed to make a frog. The search for this material continued for a long time, but it was found completely unexpectedly. While collecting ornamental material in the forest, the artist saw a small tree mushroom on a birch tree. And before that, he had found many such mushrooms, but this time he saw this mushroom in a special way, “from the other side.” And in his imagination the mushroom appeared in the form of a frog’s head.

A frog was created from mushrooms of different sizes and slingshot sticks (see Fig. 106, BUT). Following the frog, a spider was made from the same material for the fairy tale about the Cluttering Fly (see Fig. E7, 100).

And what is better to use to make a raging sea in a work based on a fairy tale about a goldfish? It is clear that an old man can be made from a bent cone, a shore from a piece of thick bark so that it looks like rocks washed away by the sea, but what can the sea be made from? Of course, you can cut up strips of plexiglass, heat them up and bend them into the shape of sea waves. Maybe it’s even beautiful, but plexiglass is not a natural material, which means its use is undesirable. Such mixing of materials is permissible only as a last resort. For example, when creating ice on a river for a work based on the fairy tale “At the Command of the Pike,” it is, of course, advisable to make it from milky-white plexiglass. The raging sea is a completely different matter.

And it turned out that if the waves were made from birch bark, they would look great like waves, although the material was not at all transparent and did not look like water.

But it also happens the other way around. I came across a fir cone damaged by someone. She grew up crooked, like an old woman, a figure hunched over by old age and hard work. This is the birth of a creative idea. This cone was followed by a small wrinkled cone for the old woman’s head, etc. In the end, a large composition “Interesting Fairy Tale” was born, in which a hunched old woman sits on a log and tells an interesting tale to children frozen in different poses, made of acorns and hazelnuts (see color table).

Thus, in creative practice, sometimes a mature idea needs necessary material, and other times the material, through its forms, gives birth to an idea.

A very important question for the teacher arises: where to get, from where to get ideas for creating individual figures and entire composites? These plans should be close, understandable, and familiar to children. After all, everyone will create something of their own that is understandable to them. These can be images, scenes from children's literary works, from the life surrounding the child.

When taking the plot of a future work from some fairy tale familiar to students, it is necessary to help the children imagine the scene that the teacher intends to propose for creation, and especially focus on the images and appearance of the characters in the fairy tale.

So, for example, having decided to create a composition based on Pushkin’s fairy tale “With a Fisherman and a Fish,” drawing a verbal image of an old man, the teacher will emphasize that he is wearing a homespun canvas shirt with patched sleeves and the same trousers (not trousers, but specifically trousers) with patches on the knees and bast shoes with onuchs. Children must understand all this, see it as evidence of the terrible poverty of the working peasantry in pre-revolutionary Russia.

When external and internal images future figures are drawn by the teacher in an oral portrait, we must give the children the opportunity to independently create an old man from the materials they have. See how differently they can do it, how differently they see him. Of course, the teacher can and should give the children basic recommendations (what to make the torso, arms, legs, head and etc.), but let them choose the shape of these materials themselves. Many of them will turn to the teacher for help, for advice: can this be done this way, or that another. Help, advise, recommend, but try to ensure that in all cases the child’s initiative and resourcefulness remain leading. This will encourage him and build self-confidence. Even if the work completed by the student is not entirely successful, the teacher should be able to find something positive in it and note this and praise the author. This technique helps the child to believe in his abilities.

In all their work, children should see much more than just a toy or a fun craft. When looking for subjects for work, recommend that children use this creativity to fight evil, violations of order and discipline at school, on the street, at home. For example, children can create figures of sloppy, undisciplined children, etc. from thistle and burdock heads.

For a number of crafts, you can and should take scenes from the life around children, and try to do this in such a way that the students themselves find the stories in life, looking closely at it. This could be people’s work processes, sports sketches, children’s actions and deeds, impressions that arose as a result of children’s observation of any significant events. It is possible that these stories will be taken from the lives of animals. A child visited the zoo, and a funny bird and animal was born in his hands. The life of animals provides many simple but interesting topics.

The search for an idea, a plan for future work is an extremely important stage in the development of children's powers of observation, ingenuity, imagination and creative thinking.

The variety of natural materials used for manual work and the ease of its processing make it possible to widely use this material in working with children. It is only necessary to collect natural material in a timely manner, using the students’ stay in the camp and country walks for this.

When collecting natural materials with children, we should not forget about nature conservation. We need to tell children about the colossal work of our people in creating green areas and shelterbelts, about the participation of pioneers and schoolchildren in this.

Students should know and remember what a great responsibility we have to protect forests. A broken branch, damaged bark on a tree - all this causes harm to the forest and damages the national economy. When collecting natural material, students should not forget about this. So, for example, children should not tear off birch bark needed for work from a growing, healthy tree - it should be taken from firewood and from birches cut down for something.

Stripping birch bark is done as follows: select a suitable part of the bark (on a log or felled tree), make cuts along and across it with a knife, thus indicating the size of the birch bark sheet that is supposed to be stripped. Then, using the blunt side, the knives peel off the cut bark across the trunk (from left to right). The stripped birch bark is placed in a stack, pressed on top with a board and something else heavy so that it does not warp when drying. Birch bark should be dried in a cool place for one and a half to two weeks.

Before use, dry birch bark sheets must be soaked in warm or hot water until it becomes flexible and elastic.

In addition to birch bark, moss, lichens, and some fern plants should be prepared. A particularly popular material in model work will be the clubmoss - a spore-bearing plant that must be looked for in mossy coniferous forests.

Cuckoo flax, sphagnum and other types of mosses that resemble small trees in appearance will also be needed in model and decorative work.

Gray lichen, the so-called bearded lichen, grows in abundance on old spruce trees - this should also be stocked up.

Before use, dry crushed moss and lichen should be doused with hot water and allowed to dry slightly. This will give the moss a fresh look and straighten out.

Cones - spruce, pine, larch, as well as acorns and seeds of various herbal and woody plants - will have a variety of uses in the work. Their various shapes and colors allow them to be used in finishing works and as a base material. We need to prepare more sand (white quartz, yellow, colored with iron salts, and other shades). The sand should be dried and stored in bags.

Shells of all kinds of freshwater and marine mollusks. Collected shells should be washed, traces of silt removed, dried and stored in a box or boxes, since this material is fragile and easily breaks if stored carelessly.

The straw used in the work is predominantly rye and wheat. It can be stored hanging, tied with sheaves.

To weave baskets, you should prepare kuga and cattail. These plants should be looked for in swampy and coastal areas. They should be dried laid out flat on the floor or shelves.

Before use, straw, kugu and cattail must be moistened with hot water until they acquire their initial flexibility. For some carving work, easily processed pine bark should be prepared. It should be taken from the stumps and butts of cut trees. On the lower part of the tree, the bark is always thicker, and therefore more suitable for carving various objects from it.

The following additional materials will be required for the work: glue (carpenter's glue, office glue, etc.), cardboard (of various thicknesses and grades), paper (writing, drawing, colored, glossy, landscape, etc.) and wire.

The necessary tools will be: a knife, scissors, a ruler with divisions, a thin awl. Some jobs will require wire cutters and pliers.

Works from seeds and moss

The simplest works made from natural materials are those made from seeds and moss.

A simple job would be to compile collections of seeds, mosses, lichens, etc. It is convenient to place each type of exhibit in small boxes (for example, match boxes), then combine everything into one glass box, making the appropriate labels.

Various patterns and ornaments are also laid out from the seeds.

The technique for this work is very simple: cardboard, plywood or an item intended for decoration is completely smeared with office or other glue, thickly covered with seeds and placed under a press until dry, after which the item is lightly shaken to remove excess non-adherent seeds.

The work uses not only seeds of wild plants, but also cultivated ones (beans, millet, cereal seeds, watermelon and melon seeds, etc.).

By combining seeds by shape, size and color, you can lay out various designs - folk patterns, ornaments, etc.; the gaps are filled with small seeds or sand.

Rice. 79. Products decorated with acorns

Rice. 80. Acorn tea set

Patterns from some large seeds, for example from acorns, can be sewn onto cardboard and thick fabric, and used to decorate some small things: a cardboard stand for an inkwell, a frame, a bag for small items, a baby’s handbag, etc. (Fig. 79).

For sewing, select small acorns of the same size, pierce them through with a thin awl, and then thread a needle and thread through the holes.

Rice. 81. Walnut shell toys

A good gift for kids can be “ tea service"with a samovar, made from whole acorns and individual acorn “cups” (plus). To connect the parts, pins, thin wire, and sharpened pieces of matches are used. The samovar tap, teapot toe and handles are made from sticks (Fig. 80).

For various small toys You can also use nut shells using plasticine (Fig. 81).

Products made from seeds can be coated clear varnish, which makes them more durable and makes it possible to remove dust from them.

When performing some work, sawdust is used; they are easily dyed with aniline dyes sold for dyeing cotton fabric. The paint is diluted with hot water in a container, sawdust is immersed in it, then the water is filtered, the sawdust is dried and used for work, gluing them in the same way as seeds.

Low-growing moss, growing on stumps and resembling green ivy, is used in model work for pasting lawns. Frames, boxes and other things covered with such moss look good.

Pasting with moss is done as follows: first, select pieces of suitable moss, cut off the irregularities, then smear the thing intended for pasting with glue, and lay the prepared moss on the glue. To ensure that the moss lies more tightly and does not move, it is covered with a piece of cardboard until it dries and pressed with something heavy.

Works made from pine cones

Rice. 82. Pine cone toys

Pig, bird, fish and butterfly

It’s easy to make various toys from spruce, pine and other cones, for example, birds, animals, forest animals. You just need to choose cones of various shapes.

When drying, the cones open up, and if this happens in the products, the shape of the finished toy will be disrupted; This will be especially noticeable in products made from fir cones.

To avoid this, fir cones should be immersed in warm liquid wood glue. In the glue “bath”, the opened cones will close. Then they should be taken out and dried. The scales of the cones, fastened with glue, do not open, and the shape of products made from them does not change.

Toys made from cones (Fig. 82) can be an additional game material for younger children and can also be used for decoration Christmas trees. Cones and products made from them can be painted and varnished.

Piggy

For the body of the pig, choose a cone of suitable shape. Its narrow end will be the head. For the ears, scales taken from another cone are used. For the legs, four holes are made in the cone with an awl, into which sticks coated with glue are inserted. The tail curl is made of wire.

Birds

The body and head of the crane are made from large and small cones. Use suitable sticks for the neck and legs, and a bunch of pine needles for the tail. To connect the parts, holes are made in the cones with an awl, in which the prepared parts are strengthened with glue. Eyes can be made from any suitable seeds, gluing them with wood glue. The bird shown in Figure 82 has its tail and wings cut out of a piece of pine bark with a knife. The wings can be glued from maple seeds (flywood). The bird's legs are glued into the holes of a stand made of pine bark.

Fish and butterfly

Fish and butterflies are made from fir cones treated in a glue bath. When making a fish, a cut is made in the cone for the dorsal fin and tail, as shown in the figure, and in the cone intended for the body of the butterfly, two slits are made for gluing the wings into them.

The fins are cut out of birch bark (see picture) and glued into the slots. For butterfly wings, you need to fold a piece of birch bark in half and cut out two wings at the same time. They are inserted in the same way as fish fins, using glue. Butterfly wings can be decorated with pieces of thin birch bark of a different color.

The butterfly's antennae are made from pine needles; To do this, first make a hole in the cone, and lubricate the needles with glue.

Teddy Bear and Forester

For the body and paws of the bear cub, fir cones of suitable shape (one large and four smaller ones) are selected and treated with glue. To make the limbs fit more closely to the body, the scales on the cones at the joints are cut off with scissors, then through holes are drilled. The parts prepared in this way are connected with soft wire threaded through the holes; The ends of this wire are twisted with pliers.

They do the same thing with the lesovichka, only they add a small cone or part of a cone to make the head.

The lesovichka can be glued with hair made of gray lichen, a hat made of leaves or birch bark, the legs should be attached with wire to a plank or glued to a piece of pine bark.

Rice. 83. Lesovichok and the bear cub

Rice. 84. Works from fir cone scales

Works made from fir cone scales

You can decorate frames, boxes and other objects made of cardboard and plywood with scales of fir cones. But the use of scales in model work for “tiled” roofs is especially successful (Fig. 84).

The process of strengthening the scales is very simple: you first need to trim them from the opened fir cones, then grease them with glue and place them in checkerboard pattern in place. The scales should be laid so that they overlap each other slightly, otherwise cracks will form and the work will take on a sloppy appearance. The finished item must be placed under a press to dry.

Instead of cone scales, you can use small shells. The process of gluing them is the same as for scales.

Birch bark works

Freshly stripped or steamed in hot water, birch bark easily exfoliates: from it (using a knife) you can remove individual, paper-thin layers and use them for gluing bookbinding and cardboard products (calendar walls, notepads, frames, notebooks, etc.) .

Pasting with such birch bark is done in the same way as with ordinary paper (see instructions). The pasted item should be wrapped in newspaper and placed under a press until completely dry.

Rice. 85. Works from birch bark

Birch bark scoop, birch bark, birch bark basket. Below - methods of fastening the edges of birch bark strips

On hikes and excursions, you can use birch bark to make some crafts (Fig. 85).

You can easily make a scoop from birch bark for drinking water. A rectangular piece of birch bark must be cleaned, one of its sides be bent in half and secured with a split stick. The implementation of the second version of the scoop is clearly visible in the figure.

It is not difficult to make a birch bark for collecting berries, mushrooms, stone samples and other materials. To make it, take a rectangular piece of birch bark and bend it into the shape of a box. Then, in the corners, at the joints, holes are pierced, and twigs are threaded through them for fastening.

More complex products made from birch bark will be various baskets. The simplest form A birch bark basket consists of a side, a bottom and a handle. For the side panel, take a strip of birch bark, align it, trim its edges using a ruler and fold it into a cylinder.

If a small basket is made, then it is sewn together with thick threads (using a needle). To sew together large baskets, narrow birch bark strips are used, threading them through slits previously made for this purpose.

The bottom of the basket is cut out of plywood or planks and the side is nailed to it with wooden or small iron nails. The bottom of the basket can also be glued to the side with wood glue.

A handle glued together from two strips of birch bark is sewn to the basket, or it is made from a twig, inserting its ends into holes specially made on the sides.

The side of the basket can be glued with wood glue. This is done like this: cut out the bottom of the basket (round, oval or other shape) from a plank, prepare a strip of birch bark, the length of which should correspond to the circumference of the bottom (with an addition for the joint). The joints of the birch bark must be cleaned off with a knife, made thinner, tapering to nothing, so that the place of gluing is not noticeable. Then they bend the prepared birch bark strip around the bottom and nail it with small nails. The ends of the birch bark strip are lubricated with wood glue and connected.

When gluing birch bark to birch bark, it is necessary to place paper in the glued areas for strength, and in some cases, thin cardboard coated with glue.

If you need to make a basket with a lid, then it is cut out of a plank of the same shape and size as the bottom. A hole is drilled in the center of the lid into which a loop is glued - a handle made of birch bark.

Figure 85 shows a method of fastening birch bark by making cuts in the form of teeth. This bond is stronger than stitching and gluing.

In the north, in forest areas, birch bark utensils are very common in household use. It is light, durable and liquid does not leak out of it. It is made from two birch bark cylinders, placing one inside the other.

Wicker basket

Birch bark is cut with a sharp knife along a ruler, like cardboard, and baskets are woven from the strips. To weave, all strips must be the same width and thickness and have no cracks.

To begin with, you can weave a small basket, which will require 8 birch bark strips in 1 cm width and 30 cm length.

Weaving starts from the bottom. Four strips are laid on a table or board and intertwined with the other four strips. The stripes at the corners must be secured with clips so that the weave does not diverge and has a square shape.

As shown by the dotted line in Figure 86, A, you need to draw out the bottom of the future basket on the wicker and bend the birch bark strips upward along these lines. Now you can start weaving the corners. The corners of the bottom of the basket are formed at points a, b, c And G. Further interweaving of the strips is done in the same alternation as the bottom and corners of the basket were intertwined (Fig. 86, B).

The strips should be pulled closer to each other so that there are no gaps, and for this you need to use clamps during the work process.

The top of the basket on the outside and inside can be lined with strips of birch bark (Fig. 86, IN And G).

You can seal the ends of the birch bark strips in another way: bend the ends obliquely and seal them into the gaps of the weaving (Fig. 86, D). Excess ends should be trimmed off.

Baskets can be woven in larger sizes by increasing the number of strips, their length and width.

To weave baskets, you can use not only birch bark strips, but also other natural materials: cattail, kugu and straw.

Rice. 86. Weaving a birch bark basket:

A- bottom weaving; B And IN- weaving corners and walls; G And D- methods of sealing the ends of birch bark

Rice. 87. Straw patterns

Weaving braids from straw and how to sew them together

Straw works

In model work, straw can be used to cover cardboard houses when you want to depict a log house. It is used to paste over various cardboard products. This work is done like this: the straw is soaked, cut to length and smoothed with a not particularly hot iron to form even straw ribbons.

Straw is usually used to decorate things with a flat surface, frames, folders, pencil cases, etc. The designs are made up of straight and broken lines (folk cross stitch, ornaments from geometric shapes, stars, etc.) (Fig. 87 a, b, c, d, d).

Having chosen a design, transfer it using transfer paper to the item intended for finishing with straw.

According to the drawing, the straw is cut into pieces with scissors, then the item is smeared with glue and the prepared pieces of straw are laid according to the drawing. The finished product is pressed with a piece of board and dried.

Hats, handbags and other things are sewn from straw woven into braids. They do it this way: soak the straw and braid the raw straw into braids of 4 and 5 straws (Fig. 87, A). The braid must be long, so as you work, you need to adjust the straws by folding end to end in half. The finished braid, while still in its raw state, is straightened and ironed.

You can make a basket from the ribbons of such a braid in the same way as you do from birch bark ribbons. You can also make a hat.

Rice. 88. Crafts made from pine bark

It is sewn together with threads, starting from the center of the bottom (Fig. 87, IN). The finished hat is moistened and smoothed - the brim is on the table, and the head is on a round log wrapped in some clean rag.

Pine bark works

Various applications in manual work has pine bark. It is easy to process, and with the help of a knife, models, toys and games are made from it. Figure 88 shows a boat and a chess piece - a knight. To make a boat, take a piece of bark, process its outer part, then outline an oval on top, along which a recess is cut out with the tip of a penknife. A bench can be made from a separate piece of bark and glued inside the boat.

Chess pieces are drawn on the prepared bark plate. Then the bark is cut according to the design, first giving it a general, rough shape, and after that the details of the figure are cut out.

The listed crafts by no means exhaust the possible works made from natural materials; there can be an unlimited number of them. The variety of material gives impetus to students' creative thoughts.