England's Forests | Get creative!
Tree faces
Enliven your forest walks no end by leaving smiley (and scary) faces on the trunks of trees for fellow forest walkers to enjoy. Obviously only natural items from the forest must be used – starting with a big, sticky clump of mud for the skin. Everyone can join in the hunt for things to represent eyes (berries), ears (leaves), hair (moss), teeth (pebbles), dodgy sideburns (more moss) …
Then stand back, admire your collective handiwork, and wait for the hilarious jokes about this monstrous creature being the spitting image of Dad. Leave your creations for other people to find, and perhaps some new faces will have appeared in the forest by the time you next visit.
Cone creatures
In Finland and Sweden, children make toy "cone cows" out of pine cones and sticks. To make your own, collect open cones from the forest floor and poke stick-legs into them. Use grass or leaves as a tail. You could also make a bird with a leaf beak and feather wings, a squirrel with a mossy tail, a deer with twig antlers, or a spiky pine-cone hedgehog.
Leaf flowers
As summer turns to autumn, create a beautiful flower out of leaves that have changed colour. Simply find a stick and add a blob of mud about a third of the way along to stop the leaves sliding down. Then skewer your leaves on to the stick, starting with the biggest ones and layering more and more leaves on top, gradually getting smaller. Finally, add another blob of mud on the end to finish your bright leafy flower.