I have to say I am not very good at identifying leaves or the trees that they come from. I am going to take more time this next week looking at trees and the shape of their leaves. It is too easy to not notice nature and what is going on outdoors. I have found this resource for identifying trees. Maybe you could become a tree detective.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/how-to-identify-trees/#:~:text=%20How%20to%20identify%20trees%20%201%20Basic,see%20flowers%2C%20usually%20in%20the%20spring%2C…%20More%20

Write a story or poem or a picture of a tree and send it to thestoryshedblog@gmail.com

I thought I would give you this to look at, as it is easy enough to get some leaves together for a little bit of art. Maybe looking for different shapes of leaves and what you can do with them. Take a bag with you next time you go for a walk and see what you can find. Can you find more than one colour.

Make Your Own Leaf Art

Can you come up with other ideas that use those leaves to get your imagination going? Maybe you could do a collage of leaves, or a pictorial forest using them. Or even something more figurative.

https://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/m-leaf-hedgehog.htm#:~:text=%20Craft%20Instructions%3A%20%201%20Print%20out%20the,hedgehog%20that%20aren%27t%20covered%20in%20leaves.%20More%20

So its a change in season I guess, and before we head into Spooky Month then I am going to give some words for writing with. Let’s see what you can come up with that is creative.

leaves

bare branches

wind

skipping

fireplace

warm hat.

We are now heading into Autumn, and the leaves on the trees will be changing colour. There is a nip in the air as it all gets colder. Winter is coming, so keep yourselves warm and safe, and now we are on the edge of Spooky Month. But before we go there, lets look at what is happening around us 🙂

So with Halloween fast approaching (well nearly a month away), we have to ask what will we do to celebrate on the 31st October. It is probably going to have to be socially distanced. But hey, why don’t we try our best to get at least a little bit of spooky fun out there.

A month is a lot longer than a week (as we had with Dragon week), so it will need a lot more resources put into place. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas that you would like to see on the blog or the vlog.

I have one or two ideas already but am going to be keeping them under wraps for the time being. Keep looking back and lets see what we can achieve together.

Hi everyone. We hope that you enjoyed Dragon week, and we still have a couple of stories coming up that were not fitted into the weeks activities. Now that the week is done, would people like to see another themed week, and if so what would they like it to be about.

You can let us know through thestoryshedblog@gmail.com. Looking forward to your ideas.

Amazing. The last dragon image sent to us by the wonderful artist Lindsay Oliver. This is one of the most brilliant things that I have ever seen. Imagine seeing that wonderful dragon in the skies above you.

The cloudy dragon shifting

Its shape as it is drifting

Through blue skys it is swimming

Its scales are made of misting

Can you see it turning

It’s scales now are churning

And now once more its gone.

So here is a dragon costume made up of all of the stuff that would normally be binned. It is a truly recycled dragon. The mask was made with a template and a cardboard box. The tail and chest piece was made with packing materials we were lucky enough to get with parcels we had received.

Wings were made from a bin bag. If you do make them then you can spend more time on putting scales on them, and putting loops on them to keep them in place when wearing it. I think we could well have done with a smaller model, but we had to work with what we had. We tried to put him into the washing machine to shrink him, but it didn’t work well.

The tail was made of the same material as the chest piece, and the little triangle just adds a bit more for that dragon feel. We are hoping you have been inspired to make a dragon costume of your own. Wearing green clothes as a backing (or whatever colour your dragon is) makes a big difference. Thank you for being with us during this Dragon week. We will be finishing with a story and maybe one more picture. Be dragon good to yourselves.

Jane took a big piece of paper, and made a tunic for a small person with it. It was a matter of measuring the head hole to make sure it is not too big and not too small. Then painting the tunic red, and drawing some scales on it, to give that dragon vibe. I think it works very well, and should be easy enough to do if you take your time with it.

The mask makes the whole thing complete, and there are instructions here on the blog as to how you can make that.

Jane kindly made this dragons head out of a cardboard box. She has given it a hinged jaw, and a very awesome set of teeth. Ears from corrugated card, and a lovely set of big eyes from paper on card.

Nostrils made of toilet roll holders, with lovely flames just drawn on paper. A fair bit of smoke created by crumbled light paper. The sides kept on with green gaffe tape. I think that the teeth add that extra bit of menace. If you have several people and a green blanket you could make this the head of a big old Chinese dragon.

See what you can come up with 🙂