Acorn Cap Gems

Kids can make lovely little gems made from acorn caps, magic markers and glue.

By: Andrea Mulder-Slater

We have a lot of natural objects at our home studio. Sticks, twigs, rocks, chestnuts… you name it. But what we always seem to collect, more than anything, are acorns.

What You Need:

• Acorn caps
• Washable markers
• School glue — the kind that dries clear.
• Optional: PlayDoh or homemade play clay (not essential, but helpful).

What You Do:

Collect acorn caps and dust away any bits of dirt. Then, start colouring the insides of the caps using magic markers.

When the colours have been added, place the acorn caps in some PlayDoh, to keep them upright.

Next, start filling each acorn cap with glue. Remember to use school glue – the kind that dries clear. Fill them to the top.

Find a warm place for the glue-filled acorn caps to dry. Set aside for up to 48 hours. Wait. This is the hardest part.

As the glue starts to dry (after a day), you will see vibrant colours start to appear around the edges of the acorn caps. Be patient because when the glue has dried fully (after a couple of days), this will happen:

You will know they are ready when the glue is completely clear. (Yes, this is a different batch, hence the pink play doh).

Remove the caps from the play dough and enjoy your lovely nature gems.

We’re trying to figure out what to do with our colourful caps. At the moment we’re thinking of incorporating them into a collage and using them as flower centres but really, they are lovely just all on their own.

Try it yourself and let us know how it turns out.

Tip: We used Elmer’s School glue to fill the caps because it flows really well, but when dry, we added a thin coat of Crayola 3-D glue. This final layer gave the acorn gems a nice shiny finish. Mod Podge would probably work well as a finishing coat as well.