It was time for a fairy tale adventure in the woods. A brave combination of two sets of twins were on a knightly quest to protect their forest castle.
Swords were ready in case they encountered any dragons or other beasts. Fallen trees didn’t stop them as they made their way through the woods.
Once they reached the castle it was time to turn the trees around it into guardians. A nearby tree was given two faces so it could look in both directions in case any trespassers dared approach their den castle.
Of course a surfer girl tree face was needed in case intruders from the beach appeared in the woods! 
Soon the woods were like a knightly fairyland with tree faces everywhere!
The castle was safe. Only one stop had to be made on the return journey home for a splendid sword fight in the forest.
How to make tree faces in the woods
We brought along a bag of clay which was soil dug up from one of our flowerbeds. We added a bit of water to it from a wood stream when it became too dry. If you don’t have clay you can use mud instead. We also picked some wild flowers from our garden such as daisies and clovers. In the woods we gathered leaves, nuts, acorns and cones for further decoration. I also brought along wet hand wipes for dirty hands! The final ingredient for tree faces is children’s imagination.
I love Luce and Theo’s incredible imagination when they’re at play… may they hold onto this for as long as possible x
Imagination is wonderful and then combined with being in nature a bigger plus – thank you Izzie.
We were in the woods today and there was plenty of mud around – if only I’d read this post beforehand we could have made faces too! Great idea.
This is brilliant! Love the tree faces. I’ve always wanted to make a den in the woods. We do have one nearby, but it’s a bit of a trek from our house. Now if only the weather would improve and we could “borrow” your idea and make tree faces too and a den in the woods! 🙂 #countrykids.
My kids love their den – we need to start making it more weather proof for winter!
What a great day out for the kids, there’s nothing like knights and castles to spark off some great imaginative play! I love the idea of making faces on the trees, I bet the kids felt like they had some real sentry guards stood over their castle. You can’t explore the woods as a knight and not have a sword fight, it sounds like a great way to finish the day. Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
It was very much a knightly adventure!
Pingback: Coombe Mill
This looks great fun. My sister ways takes clay out with her but we’ve not gone it yet. Want to now though x
You’ll have to now 🙂
What a fab idea! I’d never thought of making tree faces before (or seen anyone else do it). It looks like the kids had a great time 🙂
Thanks Sarah. Mine are already insisting about doing it again soon.
What an EXCELLENT idea! I am so stealing this. Perfect to entice the kids into the autumn woods. Cool!
Messy but fun. Hope you enjoy!
What a beautiful post and adventure. The faces are super cool and I am so stealing the idea and credit you of course. ;)Your photos again…they are beauty-FULL. xx
I’m rather fanatical about nature walks with kids so i’m always looking for a way to turn it into an ‘adventure’ so love it that you’d like to do the same or similar. No need to credit unless you’re linking to post or photos! And thank you for your lovely comment xx
Brilliant fun. I’m glad you explained the clay – I was wondering how you’d managed to stick them on.
We have lots of clay in our soil but it does dry quickly!
Love those faces – they look fab 🙂
What a fine idea Kriss! We made some clay forest folk recently but it’s never occurred to me to add them to the trees! Genius – and thank you for joining in again x
It’s easy even though a bit messy!
I love this – what a brilliant way to engage children’s imaginations on a walk in the wood and those faces look fab 🙂
Thank you Louise – I find when a walk in the forest is an adventure kids love it.
lovely idea, great fun and completely natural!! x
Thank you Katie – it turned a walk into an adventure!
Found your blog! yay! Still love this idea too.
Excellent – welcome. The kids loved making the tree faces so we had a fun adventure.