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Autumn family craft: sycamore seed dragonflies

Written by Allie McAllister
Three dragonflies made from twigs and sycamore seeds on a sheet of white paper surrounded by leaves and a dragonfly identifying booklet.
Head out on a scavenger hunt in a woodland or park to collect sycamore seeds. Once you’re back home, you can create some colourful dragonflies.
On this page:

What you’ll need

  • Sycamore seeds (two pairs per dragonfly)
  • Small twigs (approx. 10cm in length)
  • Paint
  • Paint brushes
  • Glue 

Did you know?

Dragonflies are considered some of the oldest insects, having soared through the skies long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth!

Tubes of coloured paints, a pot of paint brushes, a container of twigs and sycamore seeds and a container with paints on a table with a checked wax table cloth.

How to create your dragonflies

Step 1

Grab a container and head on a woodland walk to collect sycamore seeds and small twigs.

Expand image 1: A young girl needs on the woodland floor and puts a small twig into a box Expand image 2: A close up of a child's hand holding sycamore seeds

Step 2

Take one of your sycamore seeds and attach it to one of the twigs using glue.

Step 3

Next, attach the other sycamore seed to the twig in the same way as the first, forming a wing shape.

A pair of child's hands hold a twig, sycamore seeds and a tube of glue.

Step 4

To add some colour to your dragonfly wings, gently paint them with a soft paintbrush and a little bit of acrylic paint. You can use some pearlised paint to give the wings a lovely shimmer effect when they catch the light.

A pair of child's hands paint a sycamore seed dragonfly

Step 5

You can display your dragonflies however you like or use them to decorate an A4 sheet along with some fallen leaves to create a woodland scene.

Three sycamore seed dragonflies on a piece of paper surrounded by leaves.

Share your pics!

Ask an adult to help you share your creations on Instagram, tagging @nationaltrustforscotland

Keep an eye out

Some of the best places to spot dragonflies across the Trust include Balmacara Estate, Inverewe and Mar Lodge Estate National Nature Reserve, but dragonflies love fresh water, so the next time you’re at one of our places that has a pond or is near a river, keep an eye out for them. They’ll be zipping around, flaunting their amazing flying skills and bright colours!

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