Crafts from pumpkin and sunflower seeds - master classes on creating appliques, paintings, bracelets

To make simple and at the same time beautiful original figures and appliques, you can use different natural materials. The most unusual crafts are made from seeds of fruits and various deciduous trees. You can also make cool crafts from cereals, which can be found in any housewife’s kitchen. Natural materials are quite easy to stick to any surface using plasticine or silicone glue. Therefore, they can even be used for partial decoration of watches or vases. But children studying in kindergarten or school can easily make original three-dimensional figures or make funny pictures from them. Below we have looked at many ideas for making similar crafts. Using simple examples and step-by-step master classes, you and your children can easily and quickly make such crafts with your own hands.

Features of using seeds for creativity

A wide variety of crafts can be made from natural materials such as bones, seeds and cereals. From them you can make:

• appliqués: paintings can be laid out using a stencil or creating a design during the manufacturing process;
• three-dimensional figures: large elements can be connected to each other using silicone glue, small ones are usually glued with plasticine, you can also paste foam blanks with seeds and cereals;
• small decor: small natural material is suitable for gluing individual parts of large crafts or paintings, watches;
• pendants and beads: gluing seeds to ribbons or gluing them in the shape of different objects (snowflakes, Christmas trees) allows you to get non-standard home decor or original jewelry.

It is recommended to use cardboard to display pictures of seeds and cereals. Paper is of little use for such crafts, since it will bend greatly under the weight of natural materials.

How to make paintings from cereals with your own hands: master class

The panels can be made according to the principle of woolen paintings. Find a photo of a landscape and use it to select cereals, which you initially paint in the desired color. Grease the cardboard with glue and create the sky, sea, grass, road with layers of multi-colored semolina. Leave to dry. After a while, turn the work over so that the excess grain falls off.

Next, move on to the next layer. Cover the seagulls with rice with tweezers, make bushes and trees from dyed millet and poppy seeds (can be replaced with bell seeds). Now lay out the side trunks of trees from acacia and millet seeds. Make foliage from various grains and small seeds.

The cereal painting is almost ready. Sprinkle grass on the sides of the road. Leave the work to dry (preferably under pressure). Then prepare the frame. If you take a ready-made one, decorate it with cereal or pasta in accordance with the landscape. Or make it out of cardboard. Cut out the base from the passe-partout, paint, decorate with cereal. Next, glue the base, picture and mat together, attach a loop.

Variety of seeds

By combining different types of seeds, you can get the most unusual and amazing crafts. Such natural materials can be divided into the following groups:

• Regular seeds (in the form of droplets and ovals).

These include sunflower, watermelon and pumpkin seeds. They are most often used to create three-dimensional crafts or paste bases.

• Cereals.

From ordinary buckwheat, millet, and rice, you can create bright, cool applications and full-fledged paintings. When used, different types of materials can be glued side by side or even lightly overlapped (glued) on top of each other to form three-dimensional pictures.

• Tree seeds (maple, ash, elm).

Due to their large sizes and unusual shapes, they are more often used for making three-dimensional children's crafts.

• Legumes (beans, beans, peas).

The variety of shades of such seeds makes it easy to use them to create colorful, unusual paintings and applications.

• A variety of seeds and grains (apple, walnut, coffee).

Used for gluing bases or assembling three-dimensional figures.

Separately, it is worth highlighting the cones. Their individual scales are great for decoration. But whole cones are often used to make children's crafts for kindergartens and schools.

How to prepare

To create original crafts using seeds, be sure to dry the natural materials well before use. This is the only way to guarantee their long-term preservation in the future (they will not peel off or shrink in size), and also to eliminate the possibility of deformation of the finished painting or three-dimensional decor. To prepare watermelon and pumpkin seeds for work, you need to thoroughly clean them of any remaining pulp, then spread them out in one layer and wait for them to dry naturally (they can also be dried in the oven). If necessary, you can color the seeds (often used for rice, pumpkin seeds):

1. Transfer the seeds to a bag, add acrylic paints (you can also use food coloring, or in extreme cases, gouache).
2. Close the bag and mix the seeds well, distributing the paint or dye evenly. Leave for 30-60 minutes.
3. Place on a flat surface and dry completely.

Also, seeds can be painted directly after assembling crafts or laying out applications.

Decorative box

Unlike hedgehogs and sunflowers, crafts made from watermelon seeds can be functional and beneficial. In order to make a box or casket, you will need:

• watermelon seeds;
• jar or box with a lid;
• glue;
• gold paint in a can;
• a piece of burlap for decoration;
• needle and thread.

Master class on making a box

1. Apply glue to a small area of ​​the jar (or box) and glue the seeds one at a time. When the glued fragment is completely decorated, apply further glue. Cover the entire box like this. The seeds can be arranged randomly or made into a pattern.
2. Also apply glue and place the seeds on the lid.
3. Cut out stars or flowers from burlap, sew them with the centers to make a voluminous flower (as can be seen in the photo of crafts made from seeds).
4. Glue the fabric flower in the center of the lid.
5. Spray the paint all over the craft and let it dry.

The box is ready.

Crafts from sunflower seeds

With the help of sunflower seeds available to everyone, the following crafts can be easily and simply created:

• Beautiful decor "Sunflower".

A disposable paper plate is used as a base. It is covered with yellow paper. A thin layer of black plasticine is glued to the central part of the plate. Sunflower seeds are glued to this plasticine.

• "Hedgehog" figurine.

The body and legs of the hedgehog are made from plasticine. Sunflower seeds are glued to the back with the sharp edges facing up. The figurine is completed with eyes and a nose made of plasticine.

• Figurine "Owl".

The foam ball is completely covered with a thin layer of black plasticine. In the front upper part of the sunflower seed ball, two circles of 2 rows are laid out. These will be the eyes of an owl. They can be supplemented with highlights from white plasticine. The rest of the ball is completely covered with seeds to form feathers.

Figures

A wonderful owl comes out if you equip a miniature pumpkin or zucchini with feather seeds around the entire perimeter without spaces. Large buttons will serve as eyes. A chicken with a plasticine beak and comb sitting on her testicles looks touching.

A pumpkin, cut in half and peeled from the pulp, will appear as an outlandish gnome’s house. The kitchen space will be decorated with topiary, which is based on a foam ball, covered with raw materials and decorated as desired.

Many go further and decorate handbags, fragments of watches and flowerpots with the seed. First place at an exhibition event can be earned for a soccer ball with a distinctive patterned design.

Little creators are invited to implement a simple hedgehog craft made from pumpkin and sunflower seeds and plasticine. A drop-shaped shape is formed from the plastic mass or a cone is coated with it.

Now the baby must insert the thorn blanks. Having sculpted an elongated face, they designate the eyes and nose. Place the figure on dry leaves, marking the final point with this stroke.

Bouquets

Chamomiles are the easiest to make, but you can use the convex buds. Having cut out a cardboard circle, paste it over, starting from the edges with petals, repeating the operation in four layers, observing a checkerboard pattern and moving towards the center.

Attach the flower to the branch, adding green leaves. Having collected the bouquet, it is placed in an improvised vase made of a plastic cup, also treated with seeds and decorated. Expressive dahlias and water lilies look amazing.

Chic children's bracelets and necklaces are made from material of various shades, strung on elastic bands, which will be appreciated by young fashionistas.

Casket

The base of the product will be a shoe box or a tin can. Glue the specimens without gaps, especially paying attention to the corner joints.

At the end of the manipulations, a choice of gold or silver paint is applied to the model, or a variegated color is given to it.

The fairy-tale casket contains not only jewelry, but also necessary work items. In the same way, you can make an organizer for stationery from coffee cans; these useful crafts from pumpkin and sunflower seeds for children will come in handy on a schoolchild’s desk.

Pumpkin Seed Crafts

Pumpkin seeds are ideal for coloring, so you can make bright and unusual crafts from them. For example, together with your child, using this natural material, you can make:

• Application "Sailboat".

Color some of the seeds blue, blue and brown. A boat and a mast are made from brown seeds, and a sail is made from white seeds. And from blue and blue seeds the sea and sky are laid out.

• Painting "Carrots".

The seeds are colored brown, orange and green. Carrots are made from orange seeds, and their tails are made from green seeds. And the brown ones are the soil in which these carrots grow. The background remains undecorated, so it is recommended to use white or light blue cardboard as a basis.

Additional decorative elements for the kitchen

You can successfully combine such panels with any other types or paintings. The same decorative plate on the wall, a vase on a shelf, a jug or a bottle, made using non-standard production techniques, will perfectly give the overall ensemble a unique, sometimes truly “royal” look!

A frame with a photograph or picture will perfectly complement the kitchen interior.

From scrap materials you can make not only the panel itself, but also a frame for it

You should know that it is not necessary to use some mega expensive techniques and elements as an end in themselves. Sometimes cheap, completely cheap solutions will turn out to be many times more effective and impressive than super-expensive analogues, which may not give the desired result, or even give your catering unit a gray and dull look.

Watermelon seeds

Small watermelon seeds are more suitable for laying out various applications. For example, using such natural material you can make the following crafts:

• Application "Cheburashka".

Cheburashka is drawn on a white sheet of cardboard. Its body and ears are sealed with watermelon seeds. You can use black peppercorns as eyes or make eyes from black plasticine.

• Painting "Peacock".

A peacock is drawn on a white sheet of cardboard. The stripes dividing its tail into feathers are lined with watermelon seeds. You can stick pine cone scales or beans on the ends. The remaining “empty” elements of the picture are simply painted.

• Unusual kitchen clock.

The old kitchen clock is disassembled into individual parts. The base (into which the clock mechanism is inserted) is covered with seeds. An indication is cut out of golden paper and pasted over the seeds. The watch is assembled in reverse order.

Extraordinary offers

The simplest method is to update an old photo frame. They sketch out the desired sketch on it and begin to cover it with raw materials. The frame can also be constructed independently from durable cardboard.

On New Year's Eve, when you want to fill your home with a special festive atmosphere, making unusual Christmas tree balls would be a great idea. Old, boring toys are covered with seeds, like scales, and decorations include beads, sparkles, and bows. You can also design Christmas trees, stars, snowflakes.

Amulet

A decorative broom is an ancient talisman that has a deep meaning; it attracts good luck, goodness and prosperity to the house. For many nationalities, a household item symbolizes protection from evil forces and unkind people.

The seed is filled with solar energy, so it necessarily participates in the compositional idea. There is no shame in giving such an amulet as a gift to friends.

Panel

The plywood structure is divided into cells, which are replenished with a variety of varietal fillers. Such a non-standard installation will become the highlight of the kitchen, as will a delightful rainbow in which the material is adjacent to other companions.

Crafts made from pumpkin and sunflower seeds and cereals look like stunning wall paintings; just draw a plot and cover it in factions, sorting by color.

Successfully create:

• impressive eagles;
• vegetable and fruit compositions;
• abstractions;
• flocks of geese flying away for the winter;
• horses.

Some masters even cope with the most difficult task - depicting human portraits.

Creative activity helps to unlock creative potential. Thanks to the exciting activity, a positive mood is ensured for all participants in the process, young and old. Children are instilled with a love of nature, they understand the surrounding plant world, and get used to perseverance and teamwork.

Maple, elm and ash seeds for creativity

Unusual tree seeds are ideal as an addition to ready-made figurines. They make interesting wings and ears. You can also make the following original crafts separately from these natural materials:

1. From ash seeds you can make a three-dimensional chrysanthemum or a real porcupine. To do this, plasticine is glued to a cardboard base in the shape of a circle, and the seeds themselves are glued to it.
2. And maple seeds can be made into an applique in the form of a Christmas tree or unusual snowflakes. Such natural materials are very well suited for making simple crafts for the New Year.
3. “Fluffy” elm seeds will be an excellent basis for creating applications with different flowers. You can use pea halves as the centers of the inflorescences. But the ash seeds themselves will become beautiful petals. Such applications can be supplemented with butterflies made from dry leaves and branches and stems.

Scenic wrist bracelets

The child will not be afraid of the difficulties of the work if the technology for making the craft is explained to him in an accessible form. Subsequently, he will be able to make various decorations with his own hands, without the help of adults, which his friends will see and appreciate and will gladly accept as a gift.

Making a children's bracelet

Before you get started, you should consider the acceptable color combinations of seeds. Then, using one or more rubber bands, fasten the seeds and turn them into a finished product - a necklace or bracelet. Depending on the brightness and extravagance of the decoration, it is worn daily or only on holidays.

Ideas for crafts made from seeds

To choose which craft to make to decorate your home or to participate in a competition in kindergarten or school, we recommend that you read the simple instructions for making original products. You can use different types of seeds for:

• Layouts of simple applications.

On a sheet of cardboard you need to draw an image (for example, the sun, an owl, a cat). Lay out the background from small grains or cereals, paste over the image itself with larger seeds of different shades: the sun can be made from sunflower seeds, the wings of an owl can be decorated with beans.

• Topiary.

A very simple craft that uses a large foam ball as the base. Such a ball can be covered with watermelon seeds and coffee beans. If desired, you can make a stand for him from a skewer or branch. The structure itself is installed inside a small flower pot.

• Kitchen panels.

A more complex craft that is made on plywood. Thin slats are glued onto the plywood to form numerous cells. The cells themselves are pasted over with different grains and cereals.

Hedgehog made from seeds

You can make a beautiful and realistic hedgehog using sunflower seeds. Also for work you will need a sheet of cardboard, silicone glue or plasticine, plastic decor in the form of mushrooms and apples. The work is carried out step by step according to the following master class:

1. A hedgehog is drawn on a sheet of cardboard. His paws and muzzle are painted pink (with a pencil, felt-tip pen, paints).
2. The back is covered with plasticine.
3. Carefully, starting from the top and going down, sunflower seeds are glued onto the plasticine. Subsequent rows should slightly overlap the previous ones.
4. Plastic apples and mushrooms are glued to the back of seed needles with silicone glue (or a glue gun).
5. You can glue a dried berry or a ball of black plasticine as a nose to the hedgehog.

Pictures from seeds

Bright paintings can be made from different materials using seeds of different colors. Without repainting them and selecting applique elements according to shade, you can create an unusual craft with your child to submit to the competition. The work should be carried out according to the following scheme:

• Glue a piece of burlap to the thick cardboard.
• Closer to the upper right corner, separately glue 3 pea seeds - they will act as the centers of the flowers.
• Stick millet in 2 rows around one pea, and lentils and rice next to the others.
• Around the finished cores, petals from pumpkin, sunflower, and watermelon seeds are laid out in 1-2 rows.
• 1 thin branch is glued to each flower - it will act as a stem.
• You can supplement the “bouquet” with dried leaves, which will become the leaves of the flowers themselves.

Flowers

To prepare for autumn craft competitions in kindergarten and school, you can make not only flower-shaped appliques from pumpkin seeds, but also three-dimensional flowers. For work you will need: cardboard, pumpkin seeds, plasticine, a thick branch, a glue gun. The craft itself can be made using the following master class:

1. One circle (with a diameter of about 7 cm) is cut out from a sheet of cardboard.
2. A thin layer of plasticine is glued onto a cardboard circle.
3. In the central part of the inflorescence, 3 pumpkin seeds are placed vertically.
4. Along the perimeter of the circle, 2 rows of seeds are glued horizontally.
5. Moving from the edges of the inflorescence to its center (the stamens of the seeds), the remaining empty space is filled.
6. Using a glue gun, a thin branch—the stem of a flower—is glued to the bottom of the circle.
7. If desired, dried or paper leaves can be glued to the stem itself.

New Year's applications

From dried seeds you can make not only autumn crafts, but also create amazing New Year's applications. You can make such a craft using one of the following master classes:

• Snowman.

A silhouette of a snowman is drawn on a sheet of cardboard. A thin layer of white plasticine is glued over the image. Rice is glued onto plasticine. Eyes, buttons and a carrot nose can be made from paper or plasticine.

• Herringbone.

The trunk of a Christmas tree is laid out from ash seeds. The tree itself is drawn above it. Pumpkin seeds are glued along the drawn silhouette with the sharp edges facing up. Then the pumpkin seeds are painted with green gouache. The Christmas tree is decorated with bright “toys” in the form of purple beans and yellow and green peas.

• Snowflake.

A snowflake is drawn on a sheet of cardboard with a minimum number of patterns. According to the picture drawn, small white beans are glued (on glue or plasticine).

Magical transformation of ordinary objects

When a picture emerges from several types of cereals and seeds, it is akin to a miracle. After all, it is traditionally believed that we cook porridge from buckwheat and rice, and throw away melon and watermelon seeds without a second thought if we are not going to plant them. But it won’t be difficult to look at it differently and try to use non-traditional materials to create crafts.

Then cereals, legumes, seeds will magically turn into paints, and your imagination can suggest very unexpected solutions, and your little one will receive the first lessons in craftsmanship... But before you start mastering crafts from cereals, give your children a short drawing lesson on... semolina. Pour it into the tray and show how your finger can create a picture: a sun, a Christmas tree, a mushroom... The baby will be delighted!

What may be useful

Just imagine: creativity doesn’t require any special devices or materials. You most likely already have everything you need in your home:

When creating crafts from cereals for children with your own hands, you can use the natural colors of the inhabitants of the kitchen cabinet:

• brown - buckwheat, tea leaves;
• shades of white - rice, semolina, pumpkin seeds, zucchini;
• yellow - peas, millet;
• shortbread - wheat groats;
• black, gray - seeds.

You can create a whole picture from beans of various colors!

DIY rainbow

But if you want brighter colors, such as red or blue, the solution is simple: change the color of white raw materials with food coloring. Even if a young creator suddenly dares to taste a grain or a seed for inspiration, you will have nothing to fear.

However, if you need to color semolina, you need to use a different technology. To dissolve gouache, you need to mix equal volumes of water and alcohol. In a glass or plastic plate, add the resulting liquid to the paint to achieve the desired shade.

Advice. The most convenient option is to paint a larger amount of cereal: not for one application, but with a reserve. Then you will always have a multi-colored palette ready in jars.

Craft base

You can draw a sketch of the future picture yourself or select an image on the Internet and print it. This is a good solution for adults who are not artists at all.

To begin with, you should try your hand at creating small applications from pumpkin seeds, sunflowers, beans and peas. In this case, plasticine applied to the base inside the contours of the figure can act as glue. For legumes, the retaining layer is needed thicker than for light seeds.

Of course, nothing will work on thin paper; it simply won’t withstand the load. To still use a printed stencil, it is better to stick it on cardboard and then wait until the glue dries.