Crafts using natural materials

Stones as paper weights - they can be painted before varnishing.

You can make mice out of nutshells (big round one for the body- walnut? brazil for the head and pistachio for the ears) provided you don't have any nut allergies. Alternatively mice can be made from sea shells but these are generally harder to get hold of. They really are sweet and very popular with the girls.

Pressed flowers can be glued onto cork tiles and then the top varnished to make coasters. Nice autumn leaves and pressed flowers can be used to decorate the papier-mâché boxes you can buy, too.

Christmas ornaments include silver/gold sprayed pine cones and sprigs of fir.

Dried grasses can be woven or plaited or you can make corn dollies.

Chop up a log/twig (about adult male thumb size across) into finger-length sections. Get the girls to scrub the bark clean and sand the ends. Then glue eyes on. Prepare a little paper about taking your new pet logs for walks, stroking them and talking to them (a log isn't just for Christmas...). [Also good for sale at fetes etc.]

Pictures made from seeds - these could be things the girls have collected e.g.. acorns, sycamore and ash keys, etc. and you could supplement them with dried beans etc. for a bit of extra colour. The picture could be framed with twigs perhaps.

Bookmarks/ pictures with pressed leaves in a pattern and then cover it with sticky back plastic.

Clod hoppers : these are made by sticking sea shells together. You use two mussel shells or similar for the feet and one rounder shell on top for the body. (Or a smaller and slightly larger shell to angle the head if you're artistic.) Brownies can then paint or glue on eyes. They look really sweet and are very simple to do. If you have enough shells each Brownie can make a family of clod hoppers. You do of course need to find the shells which makes it more of a summer activity.

Make a table decoration using conkers, bark, fir cones, dried leaves - it could also be used towards the Hostess badge.