20 Pinecone Crafts for Kids to Make This Fall

Last Updated on October 8, 2026 by Duncan

Pinecones are free, they’re everywhere this time of the year, and they hold glue and paint excellently.

This makes them excellent choices for craft projects.

If you are looking to get creative, here are pinecone crafts for kids to make this fall:

Make pinecone owls

Owls are the gold standard for a reason. Felt wings, googly eyes, a little orange triangle beak, and you are done.

Cut the eyes from white felt circles first and glue the googly eyes on top.

The felt gives the eyes a frame, so your owl looks wise instead of startled.

Make pinecone squirrels

Start with a small, tight cone lying on its side for the body. Tuck a fluffy brown pipe cleaner tail between the scales at the back.

Glue a pom pom head to the front and give your squirrel a tiny acorn cap to hold.

Create pinecone monsters

This is the craft for the kid who doesn’t want to make a “nice” animal.

Give them pom poms, mismatched googly eyes, pipe cleaner arms, and permission to be ridiculous.

Three eyes is the best monster rule I know.

Hand the glue to your six year old, stand back, and you’ll end up with a cone that has a mohawk and an opinion.

Make pinecone angels

Glue a wooden bead head on top of a smooth, upright cone. Hot glue works best here, so this one’s for the grown ups to attach.

For wings, fold a white coffee filter into a fan and tuck it between the scales at the back.

A pinch of gold pipe cleaner bent into a halo finishes it, and a row of these on a windowsill looks like a tiny choir.

Turn pinecones into little foxes

Paint the scale tips of a tall cone orange and leave the base natural.

Glue on a white felt chest and two pointed felt ears with black tips.

A fox needs a bushy tail, so twist an orange pipe cleaner into a fat curl and dip the end in white paint.

Add black bead eyes and a dot nose, and watch your living room fill with woodland foxes.

Make pinecone caterpillars

Line up three or four small cones in a row and glue them together side by side. Paint each one a different shade of green, or go rainbow if the kid insists.

Glue a pom pom to the front end for a head and add pipe cleaner antennae.

Set the caterpillar on a branch or a stack of books and it looks like it’s mid crawl.

Make pinecone ladybugs

Use the smallest, roundest cones you can find, and paint the whole outside red.

Let it dry fully, then add black dots with the back end of a paintbrush.

Glue on a black pom pom head and two tiny googly eyes.

Make a whole gang of them.

Build pinecone christmas tree decorations

Yes, it’s fall, and yes, this is the craft you’ll thank yourself for in December.

Paint the tips of a cone green or white, then glue a small pom pom or a gold star to the top.

Loop a piece of ribbon through the top scales for a hanger before the paint dries.

Make these early and tuck them in a box, and when December arrives, you’ll have ornaments with your kid’s handwriting on the back.

Create pinecone turkeys

This one wins at Thanksgiving. Glue a cone on its side, add a felt head and a red wattle, and tuck colored paper feathers into the scales.

Write each guest’s name on a feather.

Kids at the table will fight over who gets to find their own turkey.

Turn pinecones into little hedgehogs

A cone makes the best hedgehog back you’ll ever find.

Press a lump of air dry clay into a teardrop for the face and belly, then push the cone into the top.

Add two bead eyes and a dot of black for the nose.

For a smaller version, pull scales off a spare cone with pliers and press them into the clay as spikes.

Make pinecone fairies

Use a tall, slim cone for the body and glue a wooden bead head on top.

Wrap the middle with a scrap of ribbon or a bit of tulle for a skirt.

For wings, use dried maple leaves, thin petals, or paper cut to look like wings.

Perch the fairy under a lamp or on a mossy stone outside.

Turn pinecones into woodland mice

Pick a small oval cone and lay it on its side.

Glue two round felt ears near the top and a pointed snout of pink or gray felt at the front.

For the tail, tuck in a length of thin string or a twisted bit of yarn.

To make it more fun, make a few mice in different sizes and hide one in a small basket near a pile of seed pods.

Create pinecone acorn characters

Glue an acorn cap on top of a small cone as a hat, then use a real acorn for a nose or a belly button.

Paint tiny faces on the acorns with a fine marker.

You end up with a cone body wearing a perfectly fitted hat, and have your kid gives theirs a name.

Turn pinecones into fall gnomes

Cut a felt triangle for a hat, roll it into a cone shape, and glue the seam shut.

Glue the hat down over the narrow top of a cone, then add a cotton ball beard below it.

Poke a tiny wooden bead or pom pom nose through the beard and make sure the hat covers where the eyes would be.

A gnome with no visible eyes is somehow funnier, and it saves you from drawing faces.

Make pinecone butterflies

Let a thin, closed cone be the body, standing upright.

Cut two pairs of wings from tissue paper, felt, or foam sheets and tuck them between the scales on each side.

Add pipe cleaner antennae curled at the ends and a dab of glitter glue along the wings.

Hang a few from a branch by thread and they flutter every time someone opens the door.

Make pinecone spiders

Paint a round cone black and let it dry completely.

Then bend four black pipe cleaners in half and push each one between the scales for eight legs.

Add two googly eyes and a pair of tiny fangs cut from red felt.

Perch one on a doorframe for Halloween and wait for the shriek, which, if you’re lucky, comes from the adults.

Create pinecone bird feeders

The classic is a cone rolled in peanut butter and seed, hung on a string.

You should note that this can be a problem if any visitor has a peanut allergy.

Sunflower seed butter works just as well.

Roll the sticky cone in seed on a plate, not over the table, and hang it from a branch you can see from the kitchen window.

Make pinecone people

Pinecone people come out best when you start with the face.

Glue a wooden bead head onto a big cone body, then paint a little smile and two dots for eyes.

Add pipe cleaner arms and legs, yarn hair in whatever color the kid chooses, and a scrap of fabric for clothes.

A kid will make an entire family, then a dog and a neighbor.

Best practices when making pinecone crafts

Cover the table

Newspaper works, but paint soaks through it by the second kid. A cheap vinyl tablecloth or a rimmed baking sheet per child keeps the mess in a defined area.

Sap, glitter, and paint all end up in the same place. So plan for that and cleanup.

Save glitter for the porch

Glitter on a pinecone looks great, especially on a frosty tip. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look great on your carpet.

To be on the safe side do it outside on a tray, or skip it entirely. If you must do it indoors, apply a quick coat of clear spray on the finished cone to keep most of it from shedding.

Display the arts

Kids love seeing their work displayed. A big wooden bowl of painted cones on the coffee table makes it feel like a real fall centerpiece.

Or thread a string through a few cones and drape it over the mantel. Either way, put it where people will see it.

Use tacky glue, not hot glue

A fresh glue gun burn on a seven year old is how craft time ends in tears. To avoid this, keep the hot glue for yourself, and use it only on the heavy stuff like wooden bead heads and village roofs.

Tuck the felt between the scales

Glue is only half the trick. For wings, ears, and hats, push a bit of felt down between the scales so the cone grips it.

Then add a dab of glue to lock it in. This way your creature keeps its ears on the shelf for months instead of shedding them every time someone walks past.

Bake your cones

Cones from the yard come with bugs, spiders, and a sticky layer of sap you’ll find on your sleeve an hour later.

To keep your kids safe, line a baking sheet with foil and bake the cones at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

Your kitchen will smell like a forest, and the crawlers will be gone before your kid carries a cone to the couch.

Collect after a dry spell

Wet cones clamp shut like they’re hiding from you. Dry cones open wide, and open cones are what you want for almost every craft here.

If you gather after a rainy week, spread them on a tray for a day or two. Better yet, bake them. The heat opens them up and they stay open.

Sort the cones

Dump the whole bucket on the table and you get a fight over who has the “good” cone. Every kid wants the biggest one, and there are never enough.

Make three piles before the craft starts: big and fluffy, small and tight, and the weird ones.

The weird ones become the favorites, because a lopsided cone makes a funnier owl.

Have a drying rack

Painted cones rolling off a paper towel is a classic. They stick to the table, then to your sleeve, then to the dog.

Set each cone, tip up, in an egg carton cup.

They stay put, they dry evenly, and you can carry the whole batch to the porch in one trip.

Paint only the tips

Dunk a whole cone in paint and it turns into a soggy, heavy lump that never dries evenly.

I’ve seen a kitchen table covered in cones that looked like tiny wet dogs.

Use a sponge brush and dab paint only on the scale tips. Not the entire cone.