Making a Scare Crow
My son and I made a scarecrow the other day, and it wasn’t as great a kids activity as I thought. It was hot in the sun, and when I asked T for help stuffing it, he had a hard time manipulating the hay and seemed to want to only put one piece of hay in at a time. It would’ve taken a loooong time like that.
I think my scarecrow making skills need to progress. In fact, our scarecrow’s head has already fallen off, but I was successful enough that I gave my husband a scare that there was a fat man in our garden the day I made it but forgot to tell him.
What we did:
1) Found old clothes in the thrift store pile, and a pair of pantyhose to sacrifice.
2) We tied the 
ends of the pants and shirt with string.
3) Cut off a section of pantyhose near the thigh and tied it shut.
4) Stuffed it all
5) Tied it all to a green metal garden stake.
But as I said, the head has already come off and it is looking pretty dumpy. I think I need to revise my scarecrow man and kick it up a notch. Any ideas?
It’s tough to tell why his head is not staying attached, but you might try making a huge ball of homemade play dough (that will keep the kids intent for an hour or so). Then, before it dries out, cover it with hay, then make him a mohawk. That can be made out of tin foil covered drinking straws or coffee stirrers. A few rows ought to do it. Again the kids should enjoy covering the straws by rolling them in tin foil and the straws will act as support for the foil mohawk spikes. He might be so cool he’ll need an old pair of sunglasses.
That’s an interesting idea. My first thought is if the playdoh will be heavy when it dries, and second is wondering if it’ll get moldy in the rain… have you ever tried this? If you have, I’m interested to hear if it worked!
No, I never tried it. I’m more of an idea person. (They’re not all good, but some are excellent, like the helium balloon-supported banner I made, but I digress.)
If you stick the head directly on the top of the garden stake before it dries hard, which was what I envisioned but neglected to actually say…it seems plausible. If it’s salt dough, it seems like it could get moldy if it stayed wet as in somewhere tropical. However, it seems more likely to me that it might crack and split apart over time in heat. If you are adventurous, it might be fun to try. Take pictures of the process if you do!
Will do!
A shorter activity like a simple mobile made of disposable pie tins could be fun and scare away critters, too.
Thanks for your blog. I enjoy it so much!
That’s a good idea! I’ve been saving tin recyclables to make a robot, maybe I can make it a hanging robot man for the garden. Fun!