A living willow wigwam
Last Saturday’s Guardian (UK) had a craft booklet full of crafts for all ages, including a handful for kids, and it’s available online (thanks Zoe!). You will find a great article on the joys of crafting with kids, instructions for how to make a box kite, sock puppet and my favourite; a living willow wigwam. Perhaps before embarking on this project, read Will Hodgkinson’s first hand account of putting one together with his 4 year old and 6 year old.
For more information on putting together a living willow wigwam, Willows Nursery has a great page full of wigwam before and after (above) photos.
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Family Fun magazine had something similar with sunflowers last year–you plant the sunflowers in a circle and make a big ‘cave’ of them as they grow. Thanks for reminding me about it!
Jen H February 7th, 2007 12:27
Oh I love these.. I saw some awesome willow cubbies when I was in the UK. We’d love to do something similar here but does anyone know if you can even get the right kind of willow in Australia? And if so where from?
katef February 7th, 2007 13:00
Oh, this is a good one! I imagine all the other easy things one could grow into a teepee… like sweet peas, and morning glories… I’d love to be surrounded by flowering vines (who said it had to be for the kids?). Lovely!
Veronique February 7th, 2007 14:20
I knew there was a reason I was going to buy it last Saturday!!!, then completely forgot, thanks for the link.
momomimi February 7th, 2007 21:26
I love willow houses too, we have one in our garden for the kids to play in and any cuttings are planted to create our coppice biofuel willow crop … no plastic wendy house could beat it for value on any level of fun or eco friendliness.
Heres a pick of ours :
http://irishcraftworker.typepad.com/an_irish_craftworkers_goo/2006/12/living_willow_h.html
Rebecca in rural Ireland February 9th, 2007 02:36
I love willow houses too. It reminds me of my grandma’s house.
Wonderful ideas
I just found this blog today and I’m glad I did.
Jillian
Jillian Curtis November 17th, 2007 04:48