Scarecrows - outdoor and indoor versions

On our way back from the park today the kids spotted a scarecrow in a school vegie patch. "That's scary ... I want one of those" says Alex. I explained that yes it is a bit scary so that the birds won't come near the vegies and eat them.

Once back at home we gathered up some supplies to make a scarecrow for our vegie patch. We used:

• a broom,
• some thick string, 
• a spade,
• a stick, and
• old clothes.

First we dug a hole in the ground and stuck the broom in. Next we tied an old pair of pants around the broom with some thick string. Alex found a stick and I tied that perpendicular to the broom for the arms.

To finish off the scarecrow we pulled on a top and put a hat over the broom head. The kids wanted the scarecrow to wear one of their dad's shirts but I didn't want to risk ruining one of his favourites. Maybe we can have some fun re-dressing the scarecrow from time to time.

Since the kids can't really play with the outdoor scarecrow we decided to make two indoor versions using long paper rolls leftover from a fabric roll at Spotlight. We applied a similar approach as we did outdoors. We tied a stick around the paper roll using thick string.

Jasmine chose a pink dress for her princess scarecrow and a purple balloon for the face.

She drew on a face, decorated a crown for her and cut some ribbons for her hair. We used sticky tape to fix the balloon to the top of the role and to secure the crown and ribbons.

I had to explain to Alex that we have to play gently with our new scarecrow friends or they won't last more than a minute. You can see by Alex's expression below that he really listened and took this advice on board. Not!