Why Don't You Make Acorn Cap Jewels

It's no secret, we're big on acorns around here. I use them frequently in my Etsy store, Green Baboon Designs. We decorate with them during the seasons. The Boy uses them as "food" in his play kitchen. Yesterday we found another use for them - shiny acorn cap jewels.

You'll need:
Acorn caps
Elmers School glue
Markers
Rice, beans, playdough, etc - something to hold your caps secure.

Pick out your favorite acorn caps. We have an abundance on hand at any given time, collected from our outings to our favorite parks and forests in the autumn. Make sure the insides of the caps are free from dust and debris.

Using your markers, color the inside of each cap. If you want a bright, jewel tone for your finished acorn cap, color the entire inside leaving no space blank. If you want a pastel shade, don't press as hard, or worry too much about getting every little space covered:

(Yes - he's wearing the same shirt two days in a row. I sent him upstairs this morning to pick out his clothes and get dressed and this is what he came back down in.)

Once your acorn caps are all colored, place them in your rice, or beans, or play dough. We have rice that we're careful to only use with our crafts.


It's hard to see the marker, but it's there. It will be more noticeable once we're done.

Fill each acorn cap up to the rim with white school glue. We used Elmers.


Allow your acorns to dry over night. Ours needed close to 20 hours to dry completely.
When the glue dries it forms a hard enamel like coating over the colored part of the acorn cap, allowing the color to really shine through. The Boy called them acorn treasures. He's big into pirates, treasure, and all things jewel like.


We're using our jeweled acorn caps to play Memory. We made sure to make 4 of each color. We turn them over and take turns lifting two caps each until a match is made. The person with the most matches once all the caps have been turned over wins.

I foresee a batch of acorn rainbow "soup" in my future as well.

Cheers,
Simple Mama