20 Conker (Horse Chestnut) activities and games

Conkers are the seeds of horse chestnut trees and these wonderful, autumnal treasures can easily be found on nature walks amongst the leaf litter in many woodlands and parks. We have put together 20 of our favourite conker activity ideas below for you to try and enjoy. *Please just be aware of the choking hazard of conkers for smaller children.

Conkers are called horse chestnuts because they look similar to chestnuts used to be given to horses as a remedy for coughs. The Victorians even used to use conkers to make flour. However we now know that conkers are actually mildly poisonous for both animals and humans and are not edible.

They contain chemicals called saponins which are toxic when ingested but are also safe to use on your skin and can be used in soaps, shampoos and shower gels. The Vikings actually used to make soap using crushed and soaked conkers. Another useful component of conkers is starch. During the First and Second world wars the government asked people to collect conkers for the army so they could use the starch produce acetone. Acetone was a solvent used to produce a low explosive in weapons called cordite, which was the modern equivalent of gunpowder.

Common to popular belief conkers don’t actually scare away spider, in scientific studies they found the spiders weren’t bothered by conkers at all. However they do contain a chemical called triterpenoid saponin that acts as a moth repellent.

Horse chestnut trees aren’t actually native to the UK, they originally come from northern Greece and Albania. In the 1600’s people started importing and planting the trees in the UK and since then they are commonly found in many parts of the country. Did you know that Horse chestnut trees can live for up to 300 years old and grow up to 40 meters tall?

Trees are such an important and vital part of our ecosystem, they create oxygen, soak up carbon dioxide, prevent soil erosion, retain nutrients in the soil and provide food and shelter for wildlife. Thousands of different species depend on trees from birds, mammals and invertebrates to reptiles, fungi, mosses and lichens.

Even when a tree dies it still plays a vital role in the ecosystem. The dead wood creates nitrogen for the soil and provides habitats for a variety of animals. The Woodland Trust have some fantastic, free tree identification guides that you can download here to help you identify the different types of trees you find.

1. Classic conkers game

The classic game of conkers is great for developing hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills. Simply collect horse chestnut seeds (aka conkers). And very carefully push a skewer through the centre. I find its best to do this outdoors on grass so if the skewer goes all the way through it doesn’t damage the surface underneath.

Once you have a hole all the way through the centre of the conker you can push string through it and then tie it underneath. The aim of the game is to hit the other persons conker with your own by swinging the two together. The winner is the person to crack or break the other persons conker first.

Apparently the word Conker originally comes from the word ‘Conch’ as the the game used to be played using snail shells. The first known record of a game of conkers is from the Isle of Wight in 1848.

2. Autumn sensory tray

Autumn sensory trays are easy to make and fun to explore. You can use natural materials you find on nature walks like conkers, pine cones, twigs and leaves, or even seasonal vegetables like mini pumpkins and sweetcorn. (Please always be aware of the choking hazard of any materials and items you use.) Scented rice makes a wonderful bright and colourful base for the sensory trays (you can find the recipe for making your own scented rice here) as does sand, rainbow pasta and dried leaves.

3. Autumn sensory water play

Water play is also great sensory fun for children of all ages. You can easily add extra sensory elements with conkers, leaves, scented herbs, flavoured oils, citrus fruit slices, leaves, pine cones and other natural materials. I find that slightly warm water (make sure it’s mild and not too hot) brings out the smell and scent of materials more than cold water does. Its also more enjoyable to play with.

4. Autumn sensory ice play

After you finish you can recycle the water and materials by pouring them into different shaped containers to freeze and replay with as ice blocks another day. It’s fascinating to see the objects trapped in the ice. You can hold the ice up to the light or experiment melting or breaking the ice in different ways using salt and warm water. Or the children can have fun stacking and playing with the ice to make towers.

5. Autumn sensory bottles

Or how about making an Autumn sensory bottle for babies and smaller children using, conkers, leaves, acorns, small pumpkins and pine cones. Just make sure the lid of the bottle you use is securely fastened or glued on so little hands can’t open it.

6. Painted conkers

Painting conkers is a great way to develop fine motor skills in children of all ages. You can use poster paint, acrylic paint or even nail varnish to paint your conkers. Or have fun decorating them with pens, chalk or collaging and gluing scrap pieces of paper or fabric onto them. You can use your painted conkers in pretend play, loose parts play, as story props or decorations

7. Conker snails

Conker snails are a cute and fun activity using just horse chestnut seeds (aka conkers) and playdough or clay. Simply paint or draw a spiral onto the conkers to turn them into snail shells and then add playdough or clay to form the bodies. These are great for role play and as story props for books like ‘The Snail and the Whale’

8. Fairy tale conker toadstools

Fairy tale toadstools are so easy to make using conkers, paint and either egg cartons, clay or playdough for the stems. Simply paint a handful of conkers red to form the cap of the toadstool. Then when the paint is dry you can paint on some little white spots. When the caps have fully dried simply add on some stems using egg cartons, playdough or clay.

Did you know fairy toadstools are actually a beautiful type of fungi called Fly Agaric. Although they look lovely to look at they are highly toxic, so if you do spot any on a nature walk please don’t pick or try to eat any.

9. Noughts and crosses/Tic, Tac, Toe

Noughts and Crosses (which is also known as Tic, Tac, Toe) is another classic children’s game that you can play with Conkers. Simply draw or paint an equal number of O’s and X’s onto 10 conkers. Then lay out a simple a grid using 4 sticks or 4 lines of chalk marks. The children then pick either Noughts or Crosses and then take turns laying the conkers down on the grid. The first one to get a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row of three Noughts or three Crosses wins the game.

Three in a row games have been played throughout history and can be traced back to the Ancient Egyptians. The Roman’s used to play a game called Terni Lapilli which means three pebbles at a time. They had only 3 pebbles each and they had to move them around into free spaces to stay in the game.

10. Conker rolling and tilt paintings

An entertaining and fun way of painting for children of all ages. Simply place a sheet of paper on a tray of the bottom of a box with a few blobs of paint around the edges. Then drop in some conkers and have fun tilting the tray or box to roll the conkers through the paint and over the paper. The paint covered conkers will create bright splashes and colourful trails of paint as they roll.

11. Conker soap (liquid and solid)

As I said before conkers contain chemicals called saponins which are safe to use on your skin (but toxic when ingested/eaten) so they can be used to make soaps, shampoos and shower gels. The Vikings used to make soap using crushed and soaked conkers as its so simple to do. Simply crack open and crush your conkers using a stone or hammer and then soak the crumbled inside in water over night to leach out the soapy saponins to make your liquid soap. You can then strain out the liquid soap and compost the the remainders of the conkers.

Alternatively you can make solid conker soap bars by grating the conkers into small pieces and soaking them in a tiny amount of water for a few hours. Then compress the conker mush into a soap mould squeezing out the excess water as you do so and leave them to set over night. Finally carefully remove the soap from the moulds and leave them to dry out properly before using.

12. Conker caterpillars and snakes

An easy activity for little learners and older children. Simply paint or draw eyes onto one of the conkers and the children can then have fun arranging them into wriggly caterpillars, snakes or other fun shapes and patterns. You could even paint them in bright colours as well to help them with colour recognition. You can use your painted conkers in pretend play, loose parts play, as story props or decorations. it makes the perfect companion activity to go along with reading books and stories like the hungry caterpillar.

13. Conker characters

Another simple but fun activity where the children turn the conkers into funny or interesting characters by giving them faces and different expressions using pen or paint. The children will love decorating the conkers and role playing with them afterwards.

It is also a a great opportunity to talk about emotions with children of all ages. How about adding bodies to your characters using leaves, sticks, stones and pine cones. Or you could turn your conkers into different animals or use them as story prompts or decorations.

14. Conker nature art

Nature art is a great outdoor and indoor activity that encourages creativity and fine motor skills as well as being fun for all ages and abilities. All you need are natural materials like conkers, (we went on nature walks to find ours.) You can also use other natural materials like leaves, sticks, stones, acorns and pine cones.

It’s easy to make simple patterns and shapes with the conkers like circles, spirals, hearts and smiley faces. Or you could be more adventurous and try to make a picture or story scene.

Once you have finished you or can take a photograph so you can enjoy your art for longer. How about then printing the picture to turn it into a card or piece of artwork.

15. Conker alphabet and numbers

How about challenging older children to form letters or numbers using conkers and or different found materials like we did below. Or you could form the letters and numbers yourself for younger children to help teach them numeracy and literacy.

You could also have fun writing out full words, messages or sentences. Once you have finished you or can take photographs so you can enjoy your handiwork for longer. How about then printing them out to use as learning prompts or to turn them into cards or gifts.

You can also form each letter or number with a small amount of conkers and photograph the letters as you go and then print out the photos of each letter or number to use in spelling and word games, pin them up as literacy or numeracy aids or use them as decorations. If you are making nature art numbers don’t forget to make some simple mathematical symbols like plus +, minus -, times x and equals = so you can use the numbers later in maths games.

16. Conker tree spirits

It you have some clay you can have fun making tree spirits using natural clay, conkers and any natural materials you can collect and find. (Please don’t use salt dough or play dough for this instead as both contain high volumes of salt which is toxic to trees, plants and wildlife)

You start by pressing some natural clay onto a tree trunk or log. You can then shape the clay into a face or animal, adding details and decorations using conkers, acorns, pine cones, leaves, sticks and any other natural materials you can find. But pretty please don’t pick any wild flowers, only collect ones you have grown yourself or fallen ones you find on the floor.

When you have finished just simply leave the clay faces to dry on the trunk of the tree. They should last as long as the weather is dry. When they do eventually disintegrate then the clay and nature materials will naturally biodegrade back into the soil.

17. Grow a horse chestnut tree

We have had a lot of success growing horse chestnut saplings from chestnuts, you simply pop them straight into a pot of compost or into the ground and then water and wait over winter until spring to see the first shoots of the sapling beginning to emerge. If your sapling is in a pot then you can plant it into the ground when it starts to outgrow the pot.

You may never see the fully grown tree yourself as you will have probably moved home long before then. But by planting the seeds you are providing wildlife with a future source of food and shelter. It reminds me of a wonderful quote “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

18. Conker counting games

Conkers are great for counting and maths games. You can use pens, chalk, or paint to draw numbers or shapes onto recycled cardboard, egg cartons, paper or pavements for the children to fill with conkers. Its a great way to teach younger children basic numbers and also challenge older children to count, add and subtract independently.

19. Fairy conker table and chairs

All you need to make your very own fairy sized conker chairs and tables are conkers, toothpicks and some string, ribbon or wool. To make a table you just need to very carefully push four tooth picks into the base of a conker to form the table legs and then cut off the sharp points. To make a chair you also push four toothpicks into the base as well as four toothpicks into the top of the conker to form the chair back. Then carefully weave some ribbon, string, or wool round the toothpicks to fill in the back of the chair. When your furniture is finished you can use them in role play or as story props and decorations.

20. Conker botanical dye

The process of making botanical dyes is very simple, you can easily create some beautiful coloured botanical dyes yourself using conkers or acorns, foraged plants or vegetable scraps. You can then use it to colour fabrics like cotton, linen and wool or materials like paper, card and wood. Natural dyes are also a wonderful, environmentally friendly alternative to man-made synthetics. To find out how to make botanical dyes using conkers and other materials please click here.