The kiddos and I made a scarecrow yesterday. It is one of those things we have wanted to make but just never seem to get around to it. Well this year I have already replanting my pumpkin patch twice. So before I replant it again I needed something to take care of the crow problem we seem to have. So I am really hoping this not so scary scarecrow will do its job and keep the crows out of the pumpkin patch.  Making a scarecrow is super easy and a fun activity to do with the kiddos.

How to make a scarecrow

What you will need:

* Some clothes. We used a button up shirt from the thrift store and an old pair of Daddy’s overalls. Of course you could use a dress or even add a cute little apron. The ideas are endless, so get creative!

* A hat. We purchased ours at the thrift store for $2.

* Some lumber. I used two pieces of scrap wood we had hanging around, but some 2 x 4’s would work perfectly too.

Cut your wood or 2 x 4’s to the desired size. My longest piece of wood was about 6-7 feet long and my shortest (cross-piece) was about 4 feet long. Remember to leave your longest piece of wood long enough so that you can bury it in the ground a foot or so. You don’t want your scarecrow falling over in the garden. Now nail the pieces of wood together like shown below. Leave about 10″ inches or so at the top so that you can attach the hat there. Ignore the bent over nails. They were the only ones tough enough to go through the wood. I was using cherry wood and it was so hard to hammer through. I’m no carpenter…but I try.Now start dressing up your scarecrow. Depending on the size of your shirt you may need to cut the “arms” down a little bit to make the shirt fit on. I had to trim mine a little. This is the fun part for the kiddos. They get to button the buttons and put on the pants. When putting the pants on you are going to want to cut a little hole in the crotch so that you can slide the piece of wood through the pants. You want the pants to hang free and hopefully move in the breeze. Now put your scarecrow out in the garden. You may need to hammer it in so that is stays upright. Lastly nail your hat to the wood at the top and add any other accessories you may want to add. I made some scrappy bunting so that it would have more movement to the scarecrow. The more movement the better. You may even need to move the scarecrow around the garden every few days to keep the crows out.  The kiddos think it is so funny because the scarecrow kinda looks like me. I guess I would have to agree. Here’s to hoping we keep the crows out of the garden…and our pumpkins can grow. Do you have a scarecrow in your garden?

Related posts: