Acorn Cap Whistles – Fun Nature Activity
Everyone loves a fun kid’s activity, especially one that you can participate in and that sparks a child’s appreciation for simple pleasures. We live in an area with gigantic chestnut oak trees and for us, these trees, a member of the white oak family, provide us with a variety of assets. We use the shade provided by their leaves in the spring and summertime to help keep our passive-solar home cool, their acorns in the fall to process into flour for food and their wood in the wintertime to heat our home with our woodstove. A couple of years ago, a friend of ours, Bart Miller, added another use by showing us how to whistle by blowing into the empty acorn caps. It’s really easy, but in addition to a written description how to do it, we’ve made a quick, very awful, video. ?
- Pick an acorn cap that doesn’t have any cracks and is relatively uniform around the top edge.
- Place your thumbs together with the top portion (above your first knuckle) turned outward.
- Hold the acorn cap so that only a small portion sticks out above the “v” shape created by your first knuckle joints.
- Blow across the top of your thumbs where your fingernails are.
Adjust your thumbs until you get the whistle. Although it sounds complicated, it’s really quite easy once you get the hang of it.
