Making a scarecrow is great fun. The appearance and personality of your scarecrow is limited only by your imagination. It does not 
need to cost much. Here are some scarecrow ideas to inspire you.
Themes – Aussie Icon Scarecrow or Traditional Scarecrow
Who will you create? Click on the coloured links for ideas.
Our ‘Áussie icons’ theme is broad and gives you plenty of scope to explore your favourite , artist, musician, film star, book character, animal or create anything synonymous with Australia – a giant Vegemite jar or Sherrin football.
Additional links
Australian Geographics 100 Aussie Icons
Australian Convict Icons
Photo Gallery from previous festivals
Judges Voting Criteria
Building your scarecrow
Scarecrows come in all shapes and sizes. You can build a traditional scarecrow or you can also opt for farm yard art made from materials around your house, a sculpture of paper mache’ or a hay bale scarecrow art installation.
Your scarecrow will sit out in the elements so consider wind and the potential of rain when choosing your materials.
Consider using a wide variety of materials.
- Frame/Body – wood cross frame, gardens stakes, bamboo poles, chicken wire, hay bales, old clothes, 44 gallon drums
- Stuffing – straw, insulation, paper, old stockings, old clothing or cloths
- Head and face
- Plywood, polystyrene, pillow case, old stockings, paper mache’, hessian
- Stuff with straw, soft-toy filling, old stockings
- Mark with texters or paint
- Print out a picture and laminate a well-known face
- Cut out the facial features.
- Hands and feet – gloves, socks, old stockings or tights, straw or soft-toy filling
- Hair – wig, raffia, straw, wool, strips of fabric, old mop.
Additional links
Scarecrow making tips
Scarecrow creative ideas
How to make a traditional scarecrow
Scarecrow made from straw bales
Chicken wire sculptures
Inspirational photos from our UK counterparts
Other videos – how to build a scarecrow
Photo Gallery – scarecrow inspiration!
Judges Voting Criteria
Dressing your scarecrow
A good place to start is what you have around the home. Use old clothes and shoes and don’t forget to accessorise with gloves, handbags, jewellery, imitation flowers, gardening tools, stuffed toys etcetera. A visit to the local opportunity shops will assist in pulling your scarecrow together.
The Red Hill Opportunity Shop is offering $20 worth of goods FREE to assist you in making your scarecrow. Please ask the volunteers on arrival.
The Red Hill Opportunity Shop 33 Mechanics Road Red Hill Hours: 10am-4pm, Wednesday and Friday and 10am-1pm Saturdays.
School and Kindergarten resources
Scarecrow Lesson Plans have been created for schools and kindergartens by our committee member and qualified teacher Lisa Panuccio. This will help you integrate the scarecrow building for your class or as an individual project for the kids.
Don’t forget to enter
Join in the fun by entering the completing our online application form. More details on how to enter including Competition conditions and guidelines are at our how to enter page.
Media
View our Media page.