This idea came to me one day as I was staring at the pile of corks I collected. They were intended for another project, but I had changed my mind about it finally, and I was mulling over what to do with them when it struck me: they looked like toadstools! Sorta. I thought that Kieran would get a kick out of having some for his small world play, so I got to work.
Here’s what you’ll need to make them.
1. Corks from beer and champagne bottles – these look most like toadstools
3. Craft paint in red and white
4. Paintbrush
5. A pencil with eraser
6. Water
Tear small pieces of the gummed paper tape, and wet to make sticky. Apply the pieces to cover the top of the cork as shown
Once the tape is completely dry, paint the top red
Once the red paint is dry, use the pencil eraser to make white dots. Simply dip into the white paint and dot onto the top of the cork.
Finally, once you’re sure that the white paint is dry, use some more gummed tape to cover the base.
Now you can set them up to surprise an unsuspecting four year old
Some alternatives:
You can do these in a rainbow of colours! I still have a stack of corks left, so I’ll be adding to the collection.
If you don’t have Gummed Paper Tape you could simply decoupage kraft paper to the corks using a craft glue like ModPodge.
Now go forth and create some woodland whimsy!