CHILDREN’S ZONE
As autumn settles in, trees are shedding their leaves and seeds are tumbling to the ground. Head out on a scavenger hunt and see what seasonal signs you can spot
Head out on an autumn adventure
Autumn
scavenger hunt
What will you find today?
Acorns
Acorns are small nuts from oak trees, with little caps like hats. They are a favourite food for squirrels and birds. A mighty oak tree can grow from just one tiny acorn!
Golden leaves
‘Deciduous’ leaves turn golden, red and orange in autumn as trees stop making green chlorophyll. It’s a sign that trees are preparing for winter, before the leaves fall to the ground.
Helicopter seeds
These spinning seeds, often called ‘helicopters’, come from maple and sycamore trees. Their winged shape helps them whirl through the air, spreading far from their parent tree to grow somewhere new.
Pine cones
Pine cones come from evergreen trees and protect seeds inside their tough scales. When it’s dry, the cones open to release seeds. When it’s wet, they close again to keep seeds safe.
Conkers
Conkers are the shiny brown seeds from horse chestnut trees. You’ll find them hidden inside spiky green cases. It can be fun to collect them and play conkers, a traditional game that dates back to the 1840s.
Berries
Bright berries add splashes of red, orange and purple to autumn hedgerows. Many are food for birds – and some, like blackberries, for humans – but others can be harmful, so look, don’t taste.
Look but don't taste!
RAINY DAY CORNER
Make a watercolour leaf painting
Gather different shaped fallen leaves on your scavenger hunt and get creative with this watercolour technique, where you make prints from the textures and marks
in each leaf.
You will need ...
*A grown-up to help
A selection of leaves
Watercolour paper
Large paintbrushes or sponges
Watercolour paints
Jar of water
A paint mixing pot – an old ice-cream tub would do
Masking tape (optional)
We’d love to see pictures of your watercolour leaf prints!
Ask your grown-up to help take a photo and send it to us at the email address at the bottom of this page. Go to the From you article for some pictures of last issue’s bee hotels and butterflies.
Instructions
1
Collect a few different leaves while you’re on your scavenger hunt. Try to find different shapes, and some that are nice and flat, as they make clearer prints.
2
Tape around the edges of your paper if you want a neat border.
3
Using a large paintbrush, brush water on your paper so it completely covers the sheet of paper, making sure it is soaked. This will help your leaves to stick.
4
Choose a leaf and a paint colour. Brush paint onto the paper where you’d like the leaf to go, creating a soft area of colour that’s a little bigger than the leaf and roughly echoes its shape. Then place the leaf on top of the paint.
5
Add more paint around the edge of your leaf. Use plenty of water to help it stick around the edges and where the leaf touches the paper.
6
Do it again with the other leaves to make a pattern. Choose your paint colours – maybe lots of colours to make a rainbow effect?
7
Leave your painting to dry somewhere where it won’t be disturbed. This part is really important as the prints won’t work if you remove the leaves too early!
8
Once the paint has dried, you can start peeling away the leaves to reveal the prints underneath. It’s magical to see how the leaf details have printed onto the paper!
9
If you have masking tape on the edge of your paper, peel it away to reveal a clean border around your beautiful painting.
WRITE IN!
Have you explored somewhere in nature recently, at home or at a Trust place? Please write in and tell us all about it.
Please include your name, age and where you’re from, what you did, what was special about it, and a photo of you doing your activity. We’ll also need your parent or guardian’s name and email address, and their written permission for us to publish your words and picture. The magazine team reads every one and chooses which we’ll print. We securely store anything we don’t use for 12 months from the date we receive it, so we can consider it for a future issue, then delete it.
Please write to us at [email protected] or to the address in From you. We promise not to use your contact details for anything else.
National Trust Images x7, National Trust/Rhea Bawden
Contact us
General enquiries, including changing membership details:
0344 800 1895
Supporter Service Centre, National Trust, PO Box 7083, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 1XE
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