Bring The Glamping Spirit Into Your Home This Autumn
If you can’t get away for a magical autumn glamping break why not bring the spirit of nature into your home, and the spirit of glamping into your garden? The natural world provides endless opportunities for learning and creativity for all ages, from foraging walks to craft projects with items found in the countryside. Making art and decorations with leaves, pine cones, conkers and acorns can give you hours of fun and permanent pieces of home décor that will always remind you of spending time outdoors, even in the depths of winter.
When the leaves start changing colour it’s time to get out for a leaf collecting walk. Pick up dry leaves of all colours, shapes and sizes and thread them on string to make pretty garlands to hang around your home. You can also find leaves with interesting colours and patterns and use them to make collages, or paint the leaves to turn them into printing blocks to make artworks or wrapping paper – this is a great one for Christmas.
Pine cones also make great decorations. Dip them in glue and then (environmentally friendly!) glitter for sparkly pine cones, or paint them green to make little trees for festive scenes and playtime. If you have an open fire or log burner you can melt down the ends of old candles, add a couple of drops of essential oils and dip pine cones into the wax mixture to make natural firelighters. The essential oils will make the pile smell nice and fill your room with fragrance when you use them to light the fire.
Even conkers can be used to make art – dip conkers into different coloured paints, then place a sheet of paper in a shallow baking dish and let the conkers roll around to create a marbled, Jackson Pollock like effect. This is also a lovely idea for wrapping paper. If you want to add even more fun to the gathering of these objects why not turn it into a scavenger hunt? Make a list of tasks such as “find 10 leaves the same colour” or “pick up 5 pine cones” and let the kids tick them off as they go. When you get back from your walk you’ll have a bounty of natural items to make decorations and even gifts with.
As the season draws into winter you can turn these found objects into centrepieces and wreathes, including pieces of holly, spray painted acorns and pine cones and even feathers – the only limits are your creativity. It’s nice to have some foods you would normally eat if you were glamping, such as baked apples or banana/chocolate melts as a treat while you’re getting crafty. You might be at home, but you can still act as if you’re on holiday, even camping out in the living room to add another dimension of fun.
If you like the ideas for bringing the glamping indoors, coming soon is a blog on bringing the glamping spirit into your garden – don’t miss it.
