Garden spirits (seasonal clay modelling)

We went to a village fete last weekend and Ollie became totally engrossed in an excellent activity being run by a lovely local mum (Toby fell asleep unfortunately and missed out on this one).

The idea was to use clay and a selection of seasonal gathered items and other bits and bobs, including feathers, leaves and wool, to create a spirit for your garden.  The image to the left is a fab one made by someone else - perhaps the lady running the activity.  Ollie decided to make a dinosaur, complete with lots of spiky bits 'so bigger dinosaurs don't eat him'.  I was incredibly impressed by the way this activity brought together found objects and creative play.

The lady running it was so taken by Ollie's enthusiasm that she kindly gave us some clay to take home for further exploration.  Ollie decided to make a pot with a lid on for his Daddy 'to keep acorns in'.  I gave him some help building up the pot and making sure it had thick enough walls and base to stay together when it dried out, but he made the lid entirely by himself and was so proud of himself when it fit perfectly.

Clay is such a lovely tactile material and this activity seemed so perfect for the Autumn.  I can see many trips ahead of us looking for acorns to add to Matt's new collection (I don't think Matt knows he's collecting acorns yet - not until he read this post anyway).  For Toby, the clay was a perfect medium for practicing rolling things out into sausages which he loves to make almost as much as he loves flinging the finished items at our heads while roaring with laughter.

It's always worth going to new things such a village fetes as you never know what creative people will have come up with to add to your own repertoire of fun activities. Let me know if you've got a 'must do' Autumn craft, I'd love to hear other people's ideas :)