What are natural materials definition. Natural materials in technology lessons

In order to correctly use various natural materials, you need to know their properties and characteristics during processing and behavior in the finished product. It may turn out that a natural material with an interesting shape is difficult to process: it is either very hard or crumbles and breaks. But it happens, on the contrary, that a beautiful and pliable material after some time becomes deformed or changes its color, and the craft becomes unusable. In order not to be upset later, you should know how with the help of glue, varnish or dyes you can improve or even change the properties of many natural materials.

In various crafts, the same natural material can act as the main or auxiliary material.
Individual details: arms, legs, beards of men, shoes, beaks of birds, sea ​​waves made from so-called auxiliary materials. For example, legs, arms, noses are made from sticks and twigs, beards are made from moss and lichen, shoes are made from halves of acorns or pine nuts, seeds or logs, waves are made from birch bark (Fig. 13), hats are made from the green shell of hazelnuts (Fig. 6), and the bird heads are made from beans (Fig. 14).

With each new craft made comes experience, thanks to which you yourself will find options for making certain parts. By choosing different natural materials, you will see how different the results are and how interesting it is to combine different materials.

BRANCHES OF TREES AND SHRUBS.

To make arms and legs for figures of men and paws of animals, branches of lilac, dogwood and other species of trees and shrubs, whose young shoots are shaped like slingshots, are perfect (Fig. 7). And the branches of willow and redwood make excellent bird legs, since their bark is red.

It is advisable to select the knots from which the human limbs will be made so that the slingshots have thickenings similar to joints. When making legs, the bark is partially removed from the knots. If you leave a little bark at the bottom of the “leg” knot, you will get a “sock”, and if at the top, then you will get panties. At the same time, the branches act as connecting elements, pins with which the individual parts of the craft are connected to each other. But some tree species have too soft wood, which, when dried, becomes brittle and brittle. Therefore, in the forests of central Russia and the northern regions of Russia, we recommend collecting branches of spruce, lilac and birch, and in the south also branches of hornbeam and dogwood, since it is from them that it is easy to pick up the necessary knots. Don’t break off living branches, look and in any forest you will find a tree with dry branches! But be careful, do not take dry, brittle branches.

The thickness of the knots is selected in accordance with the size of the figurine. If the sticks are carried additional function- connections of parts, then they need to be not too thick (it will be difficult to insert) and not too thin (they may break, unable to withstand the weight of the figure).

To make shoes, small logs are sawn off from thick branches. Then they split them in half (Fig. 8 a) and holes are drilled in each half, into which sticks are then inserted (Fig. 8 b). The bark is left only if the little man needs to be “put on bast shoes.” To do this, the bark on the logs is cut into “cells” and the tip of a knife is carefully removed from some of the cells in a checkerboard pattern. It turns out very similar to ancient Russian shoes - bast shoes.

From thick and thin sticks you can make RAFT WITH SAIL from a maple leaf or a piece of birch bark (Fig. 9). Branches of aspen, willow or bird cherry are best suited for this.

First, prepare three “logs” of the same length with pointed ends (part 1). Drill two holes in each. Then take two thin sticks (part 2), make three through holes and six short pegs (part 3).
Cut a steering wheel from a twig with a knot (part 4). And from a long thin branch, splitting it in the middle by two-thirds of the length, make a mast (part 5). Having prepared all the parts, assemble them as shown in Figure 9, after inserting them into the slot of the mast Maple Leaf or a rectangular piece of thin birch bark. After assembling the raft, make a hole in the middle log and insert it into the mast.

PLANT ROOTS.

Roots come in a variety of shapes, so they can be used in various crafts and compositions. But mainly they serve to imitate trees in small compositions. The dried roots of small Christmas trees are best suited for this. The roots of gooseberries and currants are also suitable for crafts. The roots of these shrubs lend themselves well to processing: they are easy to cut, drill, and glue well. In some products they act as the main material. For example, from a large root you can make an extraordinary floor vase.

PLANT BULBS.

This is a perishable material. But the bulbs are quite suitable for crafts that do not require long-term storage, such as toys for the Christmas tree. You can also make original and funny toys and figures from them. Their main advantage is ease of manufacture and availability of the material at any time of the year (Fig. 10).

The bulbs are easily cut with a knife and pierced with an awl. The shape of the bulbs allows you to create crafts instantly, without finishing almost anything. For example, Figure 10a shows the head CHIPPOLINO. All you have to do is attach the eyes, nose and mouth to the onion - and the head is ready! Heads are made in the same way OLD MAN And MATRYOSHKA(Fig. 10 6, c). If you thread a thick thread with a loop at one end through the entire bulb and tie a knot at the bottom of the bulb, then the figurine can be hung on the New Year tree.

TREE BARK.

Any bark is suitable for crafts. It all depends on the specific composition and imagination of the author. The most valuable are pine, oak, linden and birch bark.

Thick birch (or pine) bark is suitable for making any stand. It is also used to create individual parts (Fig. 11), cut out boats, rocks, and various figures. For example, try doing BOAT(Fig. 12). From a piece of pine bark, cut out the body of the boat (part 1) and the steering wheel (part 2). Make sails from two pieces of birch bark (parts 3 and 4), and a mast from a planed stick (part 5). Assemble the boat as shown in Figure 12.

Birch bark makes good sea waves (Fig. 13), kerchiefs, hats, handbags, buckets, and bird legs (geese, ducks, herons).

The bark retains its softness, plasticity, color for a long time, and is easy to process. But when preparing bark for crafts, you should keep in mind that, for example, pine bark, when dried, separates into separate plates. Therefore, in order for it to better preserve its properties, it must be glued and varnished.

LICENSE SEEDS.

On maple, hornbeam, ash and linden trees, winged seeds ripen in the fall - a natural material necessary for crafts (Fig. 15). Winged seeds are harvested when they are ripe, but still have a greenish color and are fastened in pairs. If they are collected during this period, they remain in “working” condition for a long time.

You should store lionfish seeds in a cardboard box, separately from other raw materials, and make sure that they do not dry out or crack.

Animal ears (hares, squirrels), heads and tail feathers of birds are made from winged seeds (Fig. 17), various clothes[skirts (Fig. 16), dresses] for little men and much more.

THISTLE AND BURDRY FLOWERS

An unusually expressive and interesting natural material for crafts (Fig. 18 a). From them you can make the heads of little men (Fig. 18 6), the faces of hares, cats, dogs and other animals. Collecting thistle and burdock inflorescences is quite difficult because of the thin sharp needles covering both the inflorescence itself and the stem and leaves. Having collected thistle inflorescences, they must be treated at home with liquid carpenter's glue, otherwise, when drying, they will open up and scatter into a thousand fluffs.

Be careful when working with burdock inflorescences. Numerous small hooks on burdock scales cling tightly to clothing and to each other.

MOSS, MOSS, LICHEN

Moss mosses are often found in damp moss forests. Moss moss is an interesting and often used ornamental natural material. It makes good additional elements, for example, deer antlers (Fig. 19 a) or girl’s pigtails (Fig. 19 b).

Moss and lichens grow in coniferous and mixed forests. Lichens often cover trees, hanging from branches or twining around the trunk. This is a wonderful natural material for making beards and mustaches of little men, creating compositions of a fabulous dense forest.

Harvested mosses, mosses and lichens, before being used in crafts, must be dried well in a suspended state or in a herbarium folder.

How to do this correctly is described in the article “The Second Life of Plants.”

FRUITS OF WATER LILY.

In place of faded beautiful white and yellow water lilies, which are often found in quiet river backwaters of rivers and lakes, fruits of original shape are set (Fig. 20 a). These fruits are very fleshy and are suitable for crafts only when well dried. As they dry, they wrinkle somewhat, but this gives them an even more interesting shape.
Such fruits make wonderful pig stigmas (Fig. 20 b).

ALDER CONES.

At the end of summer, clusters of fruits form on the alder - cones, whose shape resembles unripe raspberries. If these cones are collected at the end of July and treated with glue, you will get an excellent natural ornamental material, from which you can then make human fists, animal paws and bird heads.

This is a universal natural ornamental material, from which various and beautiful products and toys have long been made in Rus'. For the crafts presented on this site, you will need rye, oat and wheat straw as an additional, auxiliary material. Straw can be easily processed: smoothed, cut and painted.

To create crafts, you will need straw, both round and flattened, carefully smoothed. For those who are unfamiliar with straw processing, let us give some useful tips.

For work, you need to choose fresh, even straw that is not crushed, rotten or moldy. It is collected by hand. The straw stems are cleared of leaves and the roots are trimmed with scissors. For storage, straw stems should be cut into pieces (by nodes) and carefully placed in a box.

Flat straws are made from round and even stems. They are placed in boiling water, the container is covered with a lid and left to steam for several hours. Having taken it out of the water after steaming, the straw is cut lengthwise with small scissors or a sharp knife (Fig. 21 a, b). Then the cut straw is smoothed on both sides with a hot iron (Fig. 21 c). If you iron for a long time, you can change the color of the straw from golden to dark brown.

Straw can be dyed in another way - simply by boiling it in a solution of aniline dye. The color saturation depends on the duration of boiling. In this case, you can get any color you choose.

Nature is an inexhaustible source of creativity and inspiration. From time immemorial, people have drawn themes for works of art from it. For the people, their environment was not something frozen, motionless. Fields and trees, sun and clouds, grass and mountains were spiritualized images in fairy tales, epics, proverbs and sayings.

In wildflowers, people saw the charm of youth, birds were a symbol of freedom and independence, the wind was the personification of strength and power. Love in nature comes with a mother's lullaby and a grandmother's slow, calm tale.

Man is the owner of his land, namely the owner, and not a waster. Respect for nature must be cultivated from childhood, just like respect for elders and a culture of behavior in society.

Folk craftsmen used natural materials to make various crafts, many of which outgrew their narrow utilitarian meaning and turned into genuine works of art.

The list of both groups is quite significant, therefore, based on specific local conditions, you can always find material for any homemade product. Each plant has its own uniqueness appearance: shapes of leaves, flowers, surfaces, etc. since when working with natural materials, all this must be taken into account.

Let's start with the most common material known since ancient times, clay.

Clay, found in nature, is so diverse in composition that in the depths of the earth you can actually find a ready-made clay mixture suitable for making any type of ceramics - from sparkling white earthenware to red stove bricks. Of course, large deposits of valuable types of clay are rare, so factories and plants for the production of ceramics appear near such natural treasures. For example, rich ferruginous clay is best suited for black-polished ceramics. It is highly plastic, perfectly shaped on a pottery wheel, and after drying it can be ironed to a mirror shine. Dishes made from such clay do not allow moisture to pass through and are highly durable.

You can find suitable clay for modeling and pottery almost anywhere, if you wish. Moreover, not a large number of clay can always be “corrected” by elutriation and other methods. Clay may lie immediately below the soil layer at a shallow depth. In soda fields it can be found during various earthworks. Layers of clay quite often come to the surface along the banks of rivers and lakes, in slopes and slopes of ravines.

Clay suitable for modeling can be successfully prepared even in big city. After all, somewhere nearby, builders are digging foundation pits for a new house, or water or gas pipelines are being repaired. In this case, clay layers located at great depths appear on the surface.

Each type of clay changes its color at a certain stage of modeling, drying and firing. Dried clay differs from raw clay only in a lighter tone, but when fired, most clays dramatically change their color. The only exception is white clay, which, when moistened, acquires only a slight gray tint, and after firing remains the same white. Based on the color that the clay acquires after firing, there are white-burning clay (white color), light-burning clay (light gray, light yellow, light pink color), dark-burning clay (red, brown, red-brown, brown-violet color) .

Ceramics-- products made from inorganic, non-metallic materials (for example, clay) and their mixtures with mineral additives, manufactured under the influence high temperature followed by cooling.

In the narrow sense, the word ceramics means clay that has been fired. However modern use this term expands its meaning to include all inorganic non-metallic materials. Ceramic materials can have a transparent or partially transparent structure and can be made from glass. The earliest ceramics were used as dishes made from clay or mixtures of it with other materials. Currently, ceramics is used as an industrial material (mechanical engineering, instrument making, aviation industry etc.), as a building material, artistic material, as a material widely used in medicine and science. In the 20th century, new ceramic materials were created for use in the semiconductor industry and other areas.

Depending on the structure, a distinction is made between fine ceramics (vitreous or fine-grained shards) and coarse ceramics (coarse-grained shards). The main types of fine ceramics are porcelain, semi-porcelain, faience, majolica. The main type of coarse ceramics is pottery ceramics.

Tree since ancient times it has been used in architecture, sculpture, decorative and applied arts, especially folk art (utensils, furniture, often tinted or decorated with carvings, intarsia, painting, gilding, etc.; carvings on the facades and interiors of buildings; wall cladding with laths, wood, etc.), as well as in the manufacture of printing forms for woodcuts, printed material and patterned gingerbread cookies. In everyday life, a person constantly comes into contact with wood - in the lap of nature, and in everyday life with certain products made from wood. Wood is the material that protects, warms, helps and pleases a person, giving him aesthetic pleasure. There is no alternative to wood as an ornamental material: its physical and plastic capabilities have long attracted humans.

The centuries-old practice of wood processing has allowed us to accumulate extensive experience and study all its properties and expressive capabilities. Thus, certain traditions of working with wood gradually developed, depending on natural and climatic conditions, lifestyle and human activity.

The richness of the color shades of wood, the variety of textures and textures (waviness, concentricity, picturesque entanglement of fibers, etc.) determine an infinite variety decorative effects products, and the relative ease of processing contributes to the direct embodiment of the artist’s creative energy.

Of the deciduous trees, linden is often used for carving. Linden wood is easy and clean to cut and is less susceptible to cracking and warping. Due to its low hardness, linden is not used for making furniture, so its use is limited to small household items.

Alder wood is also easy to cut, warps little, accepts finishing well and is imitated to resemble other species, such as mahogany. All this makes it suitable for all types of work.

An excellent material for carving is birch wood. It is harder than linden and alder and is more difficult to cut, but the quality of the carving is better. Birch wood can be painted and finished well. Its disadvantages are the ability to easily absorb and release moisture, as well as a tendency to warp and crack, which does not allow its use in large products. Birch can be used to make applied carved decorations and parts of furniture and other products.

For carving small items - dishes, souvenirs - poplar and aspen wood is used.

Oak has long been used for large decorative carvings and for the manufacture of carved furniture. Oak carving is complex and labor-intensive due to the high hardness of the wood and its tendency to chip, but it is very expressive and decorative.

For small items decorated with carvings, rarer types of wood are also used: apple, cherry, etc.

From coniferous species For carving, pine, spruce, cedar, and yew wood is used. Decorations for platbands, icons, cornices, and gates have long been carved from pine. This carving is large, so the unevenness in the density of the layers of early and late wood of coniferous species does not complicate the work.

For many millennia, wood remained an accessible, beloved and understandable material to man. Wood is a construction material. As such, it is an indispensable building material. Its mechanical qualities are amazing, physical qualities: wood lends itself well to processing, it can be cut, chopped, sawed, planed, sharpened, bent. Elasticity and toughness make it possible to hold screws and nails well. Coatings with varnish and drying oils make the wood waterproof.

Wood has exceptional practical qualities. All objects created from wood carry sculptural features. Wood is a decorative material. As a living natural organism, it has its own unique structural features, expressed in texture and color. In its entirety of mechanical, plastic and decorative qualities, wood is exceptionally suitable material for performing artistic work.

Everything created by man from wood has always had a practical purpose and at the same time expressed spiritual meaning, since most characteristic feature applied art is that things created for practical application, become carriers of the master’s mood, his feelings and thoughts. A person improved a thing in form and perception, and in the process of labor his hand was improved, a sense of form, color, material, proportion, symmetry, and rhythm was cultivated.

Wood carving is a type of decorative and applied art (carving is also one of the types artistic treatment wood along with sawing, turning). Modern carving does not have a strict classification, since different types of carving can be combined in the same product.

Carving - view decorative arts; a method of artistic processing of wood, stone, bone, terracotta, varnish and other materials by carving.

Carving is used to decorate household items, decorate buildings, and create miniature sculptures. There are three-dimensional, high-relief, flat-relief, notched, contour, through and applied threads.

The best time to harvest natural materials is summer and early autumn (before the first snowfall). You can make crafts on long winter evenings, but to do this you need to take care of natural materials in advance.

In different natural areas Our country is home to many plants whose fruits, leaves, roots and seeds can be used for crafts. But some of the plants you will find on this site are found only outside of Russia, so when traveling on vacation, do not forget about your hobby. Do not hesitate to ask your friends and acquaintances to bring from their trips abroad the necessary materials for creativity. A collection of various natural materials will allow you to boldly fantasize and create new original crafts.

Before you start harvesting, you need to know how and when to collect, where to store and how to pre-process this or that material.

Basically, plant materials necessary for crafts, with rare exceptions, are collected during the period of their full ripening, since unripe fruits, when drying, can change shape, wrinkle and lose their visual appeal.

You can prepare some natural materials without even leaving your apartment if you leave (rather than throw in the trash) the pits of cherries and apricots, peaches and watermelons, pomegranates and papaya and other common and exotic fruits.

Wherever you are, look around and you will find a wide variety of natural materials for creating interesting crafts. You just have to take a close look at the nature around us! These are cones and nuts, fruits and herbs, roots and bark of trees, river and sea shells.

It is necessary to store natural materials with a solid reserve, based on whole year, since with the onset of winter everything in the forest and field will be covered with snow and you will no longer be able to find an acorn for your planned craft. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the inevitable waste - materials spoiled during the work process.

When going on vacations or weekends on trips and hikes, be sure to take with you a small hacksaw, a sharp knife, a camping hatchet and a large basket or bag for finds.

For the crafts presented on the Do It Yourself website, you will need the following natural materials:
CONES: spruce, pine, cedar, fir, alder, larch, cypress, juniper, yew;
ACORN oak with pluses (cups at the base of the fruit);
CHESTNUTS: sweet (edible) and decorative (inedible). Unripe chestnuts have a green, prickly shell;
NUTS: pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, beech nuts (with prickly shell), pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, Manchurian nuts, peanuts;
BONES: peach, apricot, cherry, dogwood, plum, persimmon;
TREE MUSHROOMS: birch, spruce, aspen, pine, oak;
BRANCHES various trees and bushes;
ROOTS trees and shrubs;
BARK trees: pine (old - thick and young - thin, golden-red), oak, spruce, aspen and birch bark - birch bark;
BULBS plants;
TUBERS plants (for example potatoes);
PEEL onions and garlic;
SEEDS trees (for example, winged seeds of maple, ash, linden); herbs and cereals
STRAW wheat, oats, rye;
FLOWERS gardening and wild plants(for example, inflorescences of thistle and burdock);
SHELLS river and sea;
SINK garden (land) snails;
FISH scales, skin, fins, tails and gill horny plates of sea and river fish;
FEATHERS forest and ornamental birds (canaries, parrots, peacocks), domestic ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys;
MOSSES AND LICHENS: various mosses and lichens, stems of moss (Lycopodium).

In addition, you will need watermelon, pumpkin and sunflower seeds (they will be useful as additional material for the manufacture of individual parts), corn cobs (with grains and leaves); fruits of yellow water lilies (pods); fruit decorative pumpkin, potatoes, apples, eggshell and many many others.

To make paintings and compositions from seeds, stock up on cereals used in the household: buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, wheat, semolina, millet, lentils, as well as coffee beans.

Creative activities with children are diversified by working with natural materials. They are used to create three-dimensional toys, animal figurines, appliqués and other crafts. An important stage of the lesson is not only the creation of crafts, but also the collection and processing of materials, preparing them for use.

Joint trips to the park or nature will help children learn better the world. Parents can show different types of plants, their berries, fruits and seeds, and also instill in children a love of nature. For example, collecting bark should not harm the tree; it should only be done on trees that have already been damaged or cut down. Natural material is safe, accessible and provides ample opportunities to show imagination.

What can be made from natural materials?

You can create toys, images of animals and people from various natural materials. Diverse in shape, color and texture, they combine perfectly with each other and complement each other. From all the toys made, you can assemble a whole composition or exhibition of characters.

Furniture, vehicles, houses and other items for toys can also be created from natural materials, sawn branches, and tree bark. The main joining methods are PVA glue or other glue, as well as wire, threads, ropes, sharpened matches or toothpicks. When working with natural materials, you may need the following tools: scissors, brush, needle and thread, awl, saw, file, knife and others.

When and what should be prepared?

All natural materials can be divided into those that need to be harvested in the summer, and those that are available when the fruits ripen in the fall. In summer and spring, natural materials such as flowers, leaves, grass, cattails, corn, birch bark, and others are available. In autumn, nuts, chestnuts, acorns, seeds of many plants, straw, decorative pumpkins, and other materials are collected. Some materials, such as moss, cones, pine needles and shells, are available at any time of the year.

Flowers and leaves of plants are aligned between sheets of paper and dried; they can be used to make an applique or a bouquet of dried flowers. Dense leaves make wings for butterflies and dragonflies or fins for fish. Autumn leaves are colored warm colors and are considered especially beautiful. Green summer leaves, as they dry out, lose their richness. green color. The variety of leaf shapes and colors makes them interesting material for creativity. Collected leaves iron through paper and dry under pressure. They are also stored between cardboard or paper sheets.

In the summer, you can make crafts from tufts of grass or use it to tie together parts of a craft. Green ears, grass stems or tufts of grass quickly wither and become brittle after drying. Crafts made from such short-lived materials quickly deteriorate, but they can also be used to develop a child.

Natural materials for crafts

1. Rogoz

Rogoz- a summer plant growing in water in shallow waters of rivers, lakes, ponds and other bodies of water. Its elongated brown inflorescences consist of soft fluff, easy to model. You can use these inflorescences, which are popularly called “reeds,” to create animal figures. Cattail leaves and stems can be dried, cut, rolled, and used for a variety of craft parts.

2. Corn

Corn- a special summer crop in which peeled fresh or dry cobs can be used for crafts, long leaves and hardened grains. The older and harder the corn cobs, the more difficult it is for a child to work with them, because they need to be cut or pierced. Classes with children are carried out when the corn is not fully ripe and is easily affected. Long and soft leaves of corn allow you to diversify crafts; they can be folded, rolled, tied into a knot, and so on. Before work, the dried leaves are soaked for a couple of hours in a wet cloth.

3. Birch bark

A material known since ancient times for folk art - birch bark, or birch bark. It is unusual, beautiful, durable. Birch bark collected in spring and autumn is the most beautiful and flexible, it is easier to remove from the trunk. To properly remove bark from wood, it is cut along the circumference, separating a piece up to 25 cm wide. The bark is cleaned, inner side wipe with a damp cloth, clean the outer sandpaper. To keep the bark smooth, it is dried by pressing it down with a weighted board. If a rolled birch bark sheet is needed, then it is soaked and dried in the sun or in a warm place.

4. Berries and fruits

From fresh summer berries and fruits you can create figures and other crafts, such as beads. As the berries dry out, they harden and shrivel or spoil. Rose hips and rowan berries make bright decorations and characters.

5. Straw

At the end of summer after the harvest of cereals, among natural materials appears straw. You can use it to knit voluminous toys, weave flat surfaces, and stick on a smooth pattern. Children like the golden color of ironed straw and they enjoy working with it. flexible material. Collect straw, keeping the stems straight. The junctions of the stems are cut out, straight straws are sorted by length and stored in boxes. To make the straw elastic, it is soaked for a day in a closed container, pouring boiling water over it. For appliques, smooth straw is needed, and it is ironed.

6. Dried water lily fruits

Used as a natural material dried water lily fruits, reminiscent small vessel with a narrowed neck. Their interesting shape is suitable for creating toy body parts and for toy dishes.

7. Fruits of decorative pumpkin

Dried bright fruits are also considered an interesting natural material. decorative pumpkin fruits. Its varied shapes and color shades provide freedom for children's imagination.

8. Nuts, acorns and chestnuts

Ripen in autumn walnuts, hazelnuts, pine and other nuts, and acorns and chestnuts. Their shape, brown color, surface texture, hardness and other qualities make it possible to create various body parts of three-dimensional toys, animals and characters. A hat or pile of hazelnuts can also be used in crafts. Walnuts can be used whole or split into halves. Cedar and groundnuts easy to pierce and stick together. All types of nuts should be stored in different boxes in a dry place. Hard nuts should be cut and pierced by the teacher himself. A child may get hurt trying to pierce a hard, round object.

Acorns, the fruits of the oak tree, are harvested in the fall when they are ripe and begin to fall. They can be selected in different sizes for different crafts. Acorns can be obtained different forms, more rounded or elongated, they can grow in double or triple formations. The calyxes of these fruits, or pluses, are also hardened, separated from the acorns and used in the manufacture of toys. If the acorns themselves can be part of the body of animals or people, then their cups can be used as dishes or headdresses for toys. Acorns should be selected whole, strong, without damage, rot or rotten spots. They can be stored for a long time in a cool, damp place.

Fruits of the tree chestnut Brown, round and smooth. By connecting them with wires or matches, you get simple toys: bears, bunnies, little mice and other animals. Their prickly skin can be used to create hedgehogs. Chestnuts can be collected in different sizes; they can be round, semicircular, or half-shaped. They keep for a long time in a cool place.

9. Plant and tree seeds

Seeds of many plants and trees widely used in the manufacture of crafts from natural materials. As a rule, the seeds ripen in the fall. In crafts you can use the seeds of ash, acacia, pumpkin, watermelon, sunflower, and many others. They can be glued with glue, stitched or pierced with a needle, toothpick or wire. These are used to make animal body parts, eyes and noses.

10. Tree cones and needles

Common materials are bumps coniferous trees: cedars, pines, spruces, cypresses and fir. Cones can be used either opened or unopened. If the cones are collected from damp soil, they dry out more slowly and retain their shape. If they dry quickly in heat, they can open up and become deformed. Cones can be pierced, tied and glued. They can be part of bulk toys. You can sort them by shape and size, like other materials, and store them in separate boxes.

Among the natural materials that can be obtained in spring, summer, autumn, and sometimes even winter, one can name the needles of the trees themselves. Long needles can be used as butterfly antennae, hedgehog spines, insect legs, and in other ways. They can be tied into a bundle or injected individually. You can store pine needles in matchboxes.

11. Moss

In the warm season you can collect moss, which is used to create a background and imitate grass in toy compositions. Moss can be stored for a long time and can be easily glued to a flat base.

12. Dried tree mushroom

An interesting natural material can be cut and dried hard tree mushroom. You can use it to make a stand or a roof for a house.

13. Tree bark

A similar solid material that serves as a “building material” in the creation of entire doll compositions can be solid tree bark. It can be coated with transparent varnish, which will extend the “life” of the composition. The bark of different trees differs in color and shape. In addition to the specified birch bark, which is a thin and flexible material white, you can use the bark of pine, oak and other trees. It can be hard and dense, or it can be soft and flexible, embossed, dark brown or gray.

14. Tree branches

Branches are a durable natural material. From thin branches you can create arms, legs or necks of dolls, benches for toys, overlapping houses, gazebos and so on. When cut, thicker branches can imitate a stump for fairy-tale characters. From branched branches you can create a toy garden or forest. It is better to use branches for crafts that are not overdried and undamaged. The branches of plants such as pine, lilac and dogwood do not break when dry, they are elastic, and are convenient to use when creating figures. When collecting branches for crafts with a group of children, the teacher should teach not to damage trees and collect fallen material.

15. Roots of trees and shrubs

Very interesting material are roots of trees or shrubs, however, obtaining them is quite difficult. The roots can be found along river banks, where they are washed away by water. It is important to remind children that the roots of living trees should not be damaged or cut off. The roots have a curly, unique shape. Often in their form you can see a character, a fantastic creature or an insect. Peeled and varnished roots can be decorated with other materials. The collected roots must be washed, dried and stored under normal conditions, in a dry room, protected from excessive moisture. Activities with this natural material develop a child’s imagination, creative thinking and observation skills.

16. Bird feathers

A diverse, pliable and bright material can be called bird feathers. You can use feathers from poultry: ducks, chickens, geese and others. Feathers of wild birds can be found simply on the street and on a hike. If children have pet parrots, then their bright multi-colored feathers will decorate the craft. Collected feathers must be washed and dried. To return them to their original natural shape, just comb them with a brush or smooth them with your fingers. Bird feathers can be cut, stitched, glued, or inserted into holes in harder natural materials. When working with feathers, you can teach children about various types birds, how they fly with the help of feathers, and so on.

17. Shells and stones

One of the most common and favorite materials among children is shells. They can be found on river banks, and especially on the seashore. They can be of various shapes, from flat oval, heart-shaped or scallop-shaped, to a three-dimensional shape in the form of a twisted horn. The sizes of shells can also be completely different. Shells can be pierced, drilled, filed and glued. From them you can collect figures of characters, create flat drawings and images of flowers, or you can paste them over entire surfaces of boxes or paintings.

The collected shells must be thoroughly washed with a brush and dried. When collecting shells, you can choose another natural material - ground with water natural stones. They can be glued with rubber and construction glue, used to create parts of furniture, lay out paths or build houses for toys.

Working with natural materials significantly develops children's creative imagination and also introduces them to the world of living nature.

Nature is an inexhaustible source of creativity and inspiration. From time immemorial, people have drawn themes for works of art from it. For the people, their environment was not something frozen, motionless. Fields and trees, sun and clouds, grass and mountains were spiritualized images in fairy tales, epics, proverbs and sayings. In wildflowers, people saw the charm of youth, birds were a symbol of freedom and independence, the wind was the personification of strength and power, the Dnieper-Slavutich - wisdom and greatness, the people affectionately call the great Russian river Volga mother.

Love for nature comes with a mother's lullaby and a grandmother's leisurely, educational tale. Nature teaches and educates. Remember “Three hundred pages of the Book of Nature” by V. A. Sukhomlinsky, his famous “school under the blue sky”.

Man is the owner of his land, namely the owner, and not a waster. Caring for nature must be cultivated from childhood, just like respect for elders and a culture of behavior in society.

Since ancient times, folk craftsmen have used natural materials to make various crafts, many of which have outgrown their narrow utilitarian purpose and turned into genuine works of art. Fedoskino and Palekh boxes have gained worldwide fame, Dymkovo and Filimonov clay toys are widely known, and the famous matryoshka doll is very popular in our country and abroad.

All natural materials can be divided into two large groups: vegetable and mineral. Plants include leaves of trees and shrubs, bark, flowers, straws, cones, acorns, chestnuts, etc., minerals include sand, shells, pebbles, etc. The list of one and the other group is quite extensive, therefore, based on local conditions, you can always find material for any homemade product.

When collecting natural materials, it is difficult to foresee what exactly will be used to make a particular craft, since creating toys is a creative process. A toy is sometimes born impromptu, so much more material is collected than is required for one or two classes. Must be at hand big choice everything you need.

Storing natural material is not difficult; the preparation technology for some of them will be discussed in the relevant sections. It is not recommended to store natural material in bulk. It must be sorted by type and stored either in folders or boxes. This makes it easier to find during work and contributes to better safety.

Tools and accessories

Various tools are used to work with natural materials. Thin branches are cut with a small penknife. For sawing, a fine-toothed file or jigsaw is used. The work requires a hammer, pliers, an awl, a small drill or a brace with a set of small-diameter drills. Small parts made of natural material are difficult to handle in your hands, so to secure them, use a small vise or hold the parts with tweezers

Natural materials must be processed on a special table. If there is no such table, you can use an ordinary board for work, on which a board with a wedge-shaped cut is nailed to hold the parts. This device is used when planing wood on a carpentry bench.

Crafts from roots and branches

The roots of trees and shrubs are an excellent ornamental material. There is practically no root from which some kind of craft cannot be made. To do this, you just need to look closely, turn the root in your hands, and imagine the future craft. It is impossible to give exact methodological recommendations for making crafts from roots; this work is creative, purely individual and depends directly on the available material.

And here general tips you can give. I would like to define the main one as follows: look closely, search, and you will find. Speaking specifically, first of all you should not take bulky roots - they are difficult to process. For future crafts, you need to cut off small roots with complex bends, various bulges and weaves, even if you don’t see anything there yet. They will definitely come in handy during practical work in the future. The collected roots must be shaken off the ground, washed in water, cut off the long branches and dried well.

There are roots where some animal or fantastic monster is clearly visible. This material is easy to work with. But there are roots where you need to figuratively imagine the future craft. You should “put your hands on” such material, that is, cut something, remove something, add something. And finally, there are roots, where only individual details, parts of the presented craft, are visible. In such cases, you have to make one craft from several roots. You should not get carried away with this method, as the material loses its nature, thereby losing its originality.

You can make a wide variety of crafts from tree branches, as well as from roots. It must be remembered that you should not break branches of growing trees. The material is usually selected in the pruning areas from already cut down trees. To work, you need small branches with many shoots. The principle of making toys is the same as from roots.

When making toys from bulk natural materials - pine cones, acorns, chestnuts - individual parts are made from branches: most often these are the arms and legs of various toys. The branches have an amazing structure that can convey the craft in almost any pose: running, sitting, with arms raised, etc. And all these details can be made from one small branch. The elbow and knee parts are where the branches fork, and the length is cut in proportion to the size of the craft.

In the practice of extracurricular activities, voluminous natural materials - pine cones, chestnuts, acorns - find a place. It is convenient because its shape allows you to convey the likeness of various creatures. However, despite its abundance, it is underutilized. This is due to a number of reasons: the complexity of processing, lack of experience, the difficulty of joining parts, etc. It is recommended to connect individual parts made of wood, branches, cones on wood glue. True, it is difficult to prepare; you need a glue maker, an electric stove, an outlet, and electrical wiring. Casein glue is easier to prepare, but it hardens for a long time - up to 12 hours. High-quality joining of parts is obtained with quick-setting adhesives: BF-2, BF-6, BF-88, "Phoenix", "Mars", PVA. In class I, it is more advisable to connect parts made of natural materials using plasticine.

The effectiveness of any lesson is determined by its effectiveness, that is, students must do some kind of craft in almost every lesson. Unproductive work causes reluctance, and then aversion to work. Therefore, it is necessary to find materials that students of a particular age group can process.

Processing buds for junior schoolchildren presents a certain difficulty. Operations such as sawing, drilling, piercing holes with an awl must be carried out in strict compliance with safety regulations. Cones should always be processed on a backing board, and not in your hands; in any case, the cutting and piercing tool should be directed away from you; Drilling and piercing holes must be done in a special clamping fixture or in a vice. It must be remembered that dry cones are a very fragile material; it is difficult for children to pierce a hole in them with an awl, especially for first-graders, so these operations should be avoided if possible. It’s not easy to saw through cones either: to reduce their size, it’s better to use a small pruning shears garden trees and bushes. If possible, glue is replaced with plasticine.

This material is widespread throughout almost the entire territory of our country; collecting and storing it is not difficult. The best raw materials for processing are raw, freshly collected acorns. Over time, they dry out, the shell becomes fragile, and the dried cotyledons are very strong, so you need to work with them more carefully.

From acorns, using their natural shape, you can make many different homemade products, and also use them as an additional material.

The joining of acorns is done on thorns, i.e. small sticks inserted into the holes of the acorns. It is not difficult to make holes in fresh, not dried acorns: they are either drilled or pierced with an awl, taking the necessary precautions - the hand should not be against the piercing tool, and the acorn should be secured in a clamping device on a backing board. If the acorn is dry, then the shell is pierced very carefully, glue is poured into the hole and then assembled. A hole must be drilled in the dry cotyledon.

The seeds of decorative chestnuts have rich ornamental properties. It is best to collect them after they have fallen from the trees. They are soft, well processed, and pierced with an awl. Dry chestnuts are more difficult to work with; holes must be drilled in them. The shelf life of chestnuts is practically unlimited. You should not keep them in a damp place - they become moldy and in a very dry place - they become hard as a rock. Heavily dried fruits can be placed in water for several hours; they will become softer, after which they are easier to process.

Chestnuts are connected in the same way as acorns.

Simple in execution, but original in shape, toys can be made from corn cobs without seeds. No cob processing required special effort and special tools.

You can make several interesting crafts from one cob. To do this, the cob is cut into pieces. If the cob is raw, it can be easily cut with a pocket knife. It is better to process a dry cob with a small file or jigsaw. The individual parts are connected with glue or thin sticks inserted into holes made with an awl. Small details: nose, eyes, etc. - are drawn or made using appliqué.

Tree seeds - maple, ash - have a beautiful external shape, which allows them to be used for original crafts.

Seeds are collected when they are not yet completely dry - dried seeds curl, become discolored, and lose their shape. The collected seeds are freed from the branches and the lionfish is left in pairs. Lay them out between newspapers, place a small weight on top and leave until completely dry. After 2-3 days the seeds will dry out. They are neatly placed in a box. The shelf life of dry seeds is unlimited.

The application of maple seeds is specific. The fact is that in the drawing it is necessary to preserve the natural shape of the seed, therefore the traditional step-by-step approach - from sketch to craft - is less acceptable here. Working with maple seeds requires more imagination, creativity, and invention. Hence the peculiarity of the approach to work. First, they outline what they will do, then they lay out the seeds on a sheet of paper and, moving them, find the most expressive version of the application. It must be remembered that slight movement of the seeds changes the posture, expression, and dynamics of the transmitted image. Therefore, using the same sample, everyone can find their own original solution.

When the compositional option you like best is found, the seeds begin to be glued. Since maple seeds are large, you can apply glue not to the base, but to the seeds themselves. For small parts, additional material is used.

For work, use ordinary sand. Original, simple-to-make products are used as exhibition crafts or for decorating a work room. First, prepare the drawing and transfer it to a base - thick paper, cardboard or painted plywood. Then the fragments, if the pattern is small, are completely greased with PVA glue and dry sand, free of pebbles and other impurities, is poured in.

When the glue dries, shake off the sand. So until the end of work. Finishing is done with colored pencils or felt-tip pens.

When processing wood, a lot of sawdust remains. They are usually thrown away, although they are a good craft material. The sawdust is sifted through a sieve to avoid large chips and painted required colors. They do it this way: gouache paints are diluted in jars, sawdust is poured into them and stirred with a stick so that the paint is well absorbed. When the desired color is obtained, the sawdust is poured onto newspaper and dried.

Mosaics can be made on colored cardboard, plywood, velvet, drawing and other thick paper. The drawing is transferred to the base and small areas it is lubricated with glue. Sawdust of the color required in the drawing is poured into this place. When the glue dries a little, shake off the remaining sawdust. The process is repeated until the work is completed. Small details are completed.

Beautiful, original works are obtained from unpainted sawdust with slight touch-up of individual parts with a felt-tip pen on the finished mosaic.

A fascinating and accessible type of work for primary schoolchildren is appliqué made from various materials, including bird feathers. The material is prepared in advance, storage is not difficult. Before starting the lesson, it is very important to draw children’s attention to the aesthetic side, neatness, and proportions.

Although the process is simple, it requires precision. First of all, the object of the work is outlined: it is better if it is birds and animals, since the material itself allows you to express their naturalness. The selected design is transferred to cardboard or thick colored paper. It must be remembered that it is impossible to completely convey anatomical features; the main guideline should be convention, generalization, and expression of the most characteristic, therefore deviation from the drawing is not only possible, but sometimes necessary.

If the feathers are very large, then you can cut off the hard ends with scissors, and tear the feathers themselves along the stem. You can use both pure white and colored feathers. Natural colors allow you to convey the natural color of the selected object. When everything is ready to go, begin the application. Apply glue to the drawing in small strokes (PVA glue is best) and apply pre-selected feathers to it. You should not smear the entire pattern, as the glue dries quickly. Appliques must be made on an overlay - each subsequent feather should overlap the previous one with the fluffy part. The quality of work depends on this. When gluing the feather, the not completely fluffy part gives the product volume and hides the gluing points.

The final stage is the application of small parts: nose, eyes, beak. Here you can use colored paper, small buttons, beads, etc.

The creative scope of children in this type of work activity is limitless. You can start making appliqué work from leaves from preschool age, since appliques from leaves are easy to make and at the same time original, catchy, and attractive.

Only fallen leaves can be collected. The best time to collect is late summer, early autumn, when the leaves become complex color palette. Don't take too much large leaves, small and medium sizes are better suited for work. You need to collect leaves from under different trees and shrubs. Leaves of various herbs are used for applications. In winter, every blade of grass will come in handy.

To collect leaves, it is not necessary to organize long hikes and excursions. Required material can be found near the school, the house where children live. Nature is generous, but it is necessary to warn children and make sure that they do not break off branches if they encounter a beautiful leafy bouquet. If leaves are collected in the forest, then the collection, especially the leaves of herbs, should be treated with no less caution. It is strictly forbidden to uproot flowers and herbs: this can cause irreparable damage to nature.

The collected leaves are sorted by type and laid out between newspaper sheets to dry. To prevent the leaves from warping, place a weight on top. After 5-10 hours, the newspaper sheets are replaced with dry ones. Dried, sorted leaves are stored in a folder. Leaves are applied on a white or colored background. For the base, use thin cardboard or thick paper. The natural shape, color, shades of the leaf allow you to convey the most various items, objects - birds, animals, insects, human figures, technical structures.

When applying, one usually tries to preserve the natural shape of the leaf, but sometimes it is necessary to cut out individual parts from the leaves. You shouldn’t get carried away with this method, as this loses the attractiveness and originality of the craft, and a repulsive touch of artificiality appears.

It is advisable to start applique work from leaves with simple shapes or individual objects, gradually with the acquisition of work skills, complicating the composition and number of objects.

Before starting work, make several pencil sketches on a separate sheet of paper, taking into account the available material. There will certainly be changes in the appliqué itself, therefore, using a preliminary drawing, the most suitable method of compositional arrangement is found. best option conveying the expressiveness of the drawing. Only after this do they glue the leaves, lubricating them very thin layer or drops in several places.

Straw has been used as an ornamental material for a long time. Various useful things are made from it: hats, household items, toys, jewelry, inlays, appliqués.

Straw is the stem of cereal plants, hollow inside, an easily processed material. Products made from straw are very attractive and beautiful. They provide great scope for the creative development of children.

For application, cereal straw is used - rye, wheat, oats, barley; wild plants - bluegrass, timothy grass, etc.

Harvesting is done after the plants have ripened, when the straw acquires a golden hue. The middle and lower parts of the cereals are suitable for work. The straw is cut together with the nodes or cut into pieces at the nodes - this makes it more convenient to store the material. Treated straw is unsuitable for work, as its stems are broken and crushed. It is better to use fresh, even, not crushed by a combine, unrotted straw. This straw is collected manually from the school plot or on the side of the fields.

To work, the straw must be prepared - flat ribbons are made from the tubes. First, select round, even stems, cut off the nodes and place the straw for 1.5-2 hours in a wide vessel with hot water for steaming. When the straw becomes soft, the tube is cut lengthwise and smoothed with a hot iron on newspaper folded several times. The material can be prepared for future use.

Looking at the finished crafts, it seems that straw applique is a difficult type of work. This is not entirely true. Indeed, the quality of some works sometimes leaves much to be desired, but this does not depend on the poor abilities of the children, but on the incorrect technology for making the appliqué. The most common mistake is that the appliqué is done directly on the base, adjusting each straw, which is very difficult to do in practice.

Straw strip gluing technology - the most important stage work. First, they outline the object of the craft, that is, create a sketch of the applique. At the same time, various properties and specifics of the material are taken into account. The applique can be made voluminous using straws painted in various colors aniline dyes. Color shades can be shown by laying strips of straw in different directions. When the sketch is prepared, its fragments ( in large parts) taking into account the direction of the stripes, they are transferred to thin, but quite strong, translucent paper. For application, glue is used that produces an elastic film, the best of which is PVA. Carpentry and casein glue, after drying, forms a hard, brittle film, which leads to defective work. Stationery glue is completely unsuitable, as it decomposes over time and spoils the products.

The paper is smeared with glue, onto which strips of straw are then placed in the direction indicated by the sketch. The strips are carefully adjusted so that there are no gaps between them. The ends of the strips should extend beyond the contour lines. This is how all fragments of the drawing are prepared. Then turn the workpiece on the wrong side and along contour line cut off the excess paper with scissors along with the straw. This achieves good quality work, the lines are smooth and neat.

For the base, take a dark background. The straw contrasts well with the black velvet paper, but you can use a different color. Fabric stretched on a stretcher or sheet of plywood is also used as a base.

The prepared fragments are placed on the base, the most successful compositional arrangement is found and glued. Then they do the finishing: they burn out some parts. A loop for hanging is glued to the finished craft on the reverse side.

This is a simple but beautiful toy. The stems of various cereal plants are used for work. From the straws prepared in advance, cut off the stems for the head, approximately 40-45 mm long (a), put them in a bundle and, stepping back 8-10 mm from the edges, tie them with thread or thin wire. For the body, blanks 110-120 mm long are cut (Fig. b).

Then four parts are cut from the branches for the legs and one for the neck (Fig. c, d). The ends of the branches are processed into a cone so that they can easily pierce the straw, and the parts are connected. The finished craft is colored with a felt-tip pen. The ears are made of paper (Fig. e).

A leaf is torn from the stem along with the petiole - it will serve as a mast. From the petiole side, stepping back a few centimeters, the leaf is bent so that the petiole is almost perpendicular to the leaf. From the fold side, dividing the sheet into three parts, make two breaks, connect the outer parts by inserting one part into the gap of the other, leaving the middle one free (Fig. a, b, c). Then, stepping back a few centimeters from the mast, perform a similar operation with the other end of the sheet. Carefully make gaps in the long, remaining end and guide the mast through them. It turns out to be a boat with a sail. The rest of the sheet is torn off. The boat floats well when there are no waves (Fig. d).

Various original crafts can be made from sea and river shells. Creative space is not limited here. The shells are collected in advance; storage is not difficult.

For the body, head and other parts, symmetrical pairs of shells are selected, placed together and glued. If the shells do not fit well together, they are processed using an emery stone to reduce the gap between them. The parts are joined with quick-drying adhesives: BF, "Mars", "Phoenix", supercement, "Moment-1", PVA, etc.

Such crafts are used as a souvenir, holiday gift, or birthday gift.

Nice toys can be made on a plywood base, painted in different colors.