Fun cane toppers
Use recycled materials or clay to make these fun bamboo cane toppers.
Learning objectives:
- Create and design objects using a variety of materials
- Find uses for recycled materials in the garden
- Understand the importance of safety in the garden
Curriculum links:
- Art & Design: Use different materials and techniques to create decorative items
- Science: Explore the use of natural materials in gardening
- Maths: Practice counting and measuring as part of creating cane toppers
Key vocabulary
Cane | Topper | Craft | Glue | Decorate | Shape | Colour | Fun
Preparation and equipment
Preparation
Discuss with your group why cane toppers might be needed in the garden and what other uses they could have e.g. safety, decoration, holding up netting or acting as mini scarecrows.
Wash and dry any yoghurt pots, tin cans or drink bottles before you begin.
Equipment
- Yoghurt pots, small plastic bottles, tin cans or air drying clay
- Permanent pens or paints
- PVA glue (as a glaze if using paint)
- Paint brushes
- Decorations such as pipe cleaners, googly eyes, ribbons
- Natural materials e.g. seeds and twigs
- Scissors or sharp pencil
Step by step
Clay toppers:
- Take a golf ball-sized amount of air drying clay and roll it into a ball. Press the ball onto the top of the cane to make a hole at the bottom of your clay ball, being careful not to push it all the way through
- Remove the cane for now and set aside
- Sculpt the clay into any shape such as a vegetable, fruit or insect, adding in natural materials for antennae or spots. Leave to dry
- Once dry, paint your design onto the topper
- To weatherproof your topper, you could add a coat of PVA glue or other varnish over the top to seal
Yogurt pot and bottle toppers:
- Decide on the theme for the topper - it could be a bee, a butterfly, an alien or an imaginary creature
- Colour the topper with permanent pens or paint. If using paint, a mixture of poster paint and PVA glue (ratio 1:1) will help to make it waterproof
- Add on any decorations such as googly eyes, pipe cleaner antennae or any other recycled or natural materials. You may need scissors or a sharp pencil to make holes for adding things like pipe cleaners
- Smaller pots may get blown off in the wind so you can stuff them with newspaper or straw to help hold them on the cane
Hints and tips
- Cane toppers can be made from any recycled materials as long as they cover the tip of a cane to keep young people safe. Other materials could include old tennis balls, ping pong balls or tin cans
- You could use your toppers as labels to show which crops are growing below