Walnut and Pine Cone Turtles

In honour of summertime and our fine shelled friends (who we seem to be constantly rescuing from our roads), we decided to make some turtles out of easy-to-find supplies. 

You Will Need:

• walnut shells (halved)
• pine cones
• paint and paintbrushes
• glue gun and glue sticks
• glitter (optional)

Instructions:

1. Gather your supplies. You'll need to halve some walnuts and find some pine cones (a perfect excuse for an outdoor nature walk!). 

2. Tear petals off the pine cones to make the head and feet for each turtle. We loosely assembed our turtles to see if we liked the look and proportion. 

3. Gather up your paints and paint the outside of the walnut "shell" and the tops of your pinecone petals.  This is where you can get creative: paint designs on the shell, eyes on the head, little claws on the feet. Add glitter, if you'd like! 

It will need about an hour or so to dry. 

4. Use your glue gun to glue your turtles together (little ones will need an adult's help with this step).

Put a dab of glue on the end of each pine cone petal foot and press it to the shell. Do the same thing with the pine cone petal that will become the head.

5. Enjoy your fine creations. Take them out to the beach to play!

Don't forget to rescue any turtles you see on the roads this summer. Remember to always place the turtles in the direction that they're heading when you find them—otherwise, they'll turn around and cross the road again.

It's so important to lead by example and teach our children to be stewards of our Earth.

Happy Summer!