Pine cone craft projects offer the crafter a plethora of different options in creating for a multitude of holidays. From Christmas crafts to Easter and beyond, you can use these versatile natural elements to add to your holiday decorations or for fun crafts to do with the kids. All it takes is a little know-how on how to treat the pine cone before beginning the craft project so it will last for years to come.

The first thing you need to do is gather the pine cones from the yard. You can use an old trash can for this part of the project, gathering as many as the can will hold. Next, you will want to soak the pine cones in warm water to cleanse them. Leave them in the water overnight to remove pine sap and any critters that might be lodged deep inside the cone. Remove them from the water and let them air dry for two or three days in the sun.

Now that you have your prepared pinecones, you can store them in an airtight container until you are ready to begin your craft projects. What craft to begin with will be on your mind. It would be recommended that if you have a holiday approaching to start with that one.

Labor day is fast approaching and a good way to get the kids involved in what this holiday actually means is to create a collage of working people with the pine cones. How do you do this? Take the pine cones and detach the petals and paint them in various differing shades. On a large piece of poster board or a salvaged piece of cardboard, draw a worker. Let the kids fill in the body, face, etc with the different painted petals and carry on a conversation with them about the upcoming holiday.

For the fall equinox, you could make baskets to place around the home as decoration. Bird feeders are also a good idea to create during this time, as food supplies will start to diminish for them. Make a bonfire on Halloween and throw in some pine cones as a fire starter. They will crackle and pop and the kids will get a thrill out of seeing the shooting sparks from them.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday to do pine cone craft projects. You can glue the petals to a predrawn turkey or create a turkey out of the whole pine cone by adding pipe cleaners for the feet and feathers for the tail.

At Christmas, you can use the pine cones in a multitude of different craft projects. Use an old wire coat hanger as a base and create a wreath for your front door by attaching the pine cones to the wire with glue. Mix in nuts gathered from the yard and berries. You can add them as a natural decoration to your tree by adding a ribbon to them, tied in a bow with a loop to hang on the tree. Make a Christmas tree out of them by starting with a wire coat hanger as the base. Top with pine cones of similar size turned on their sides and glued to the coat hanger. Keep stacking and gluing new pine cones to your tree to form an upside down cone. Spray paint with green paint, add gum drops or other things to the tree for decorations and use as a centerpiece for your dining table.

On Valentine's Day, paint the petals red and create unique cards for your loved ones by glueing the petals to the outside of the card.

When Easter comes around, you can paint the pine cones pastel colors and hang them from trees out of doors to create a natural egg tree. You can also change out the Christmas wreath with these pastel pine cones to create a spring wreath for your door.

Mix the petals in with other dried flower petals to create your own potpourri. Add the scented oil of your choice and place around your home.

are doing any craft project, if you can add a natural element to it, it will be all the more pleasing to you in the end. Think outside the box and see what else you can come up with to use these great natural elements for in your pine cone craft projects.