One of our favorite fall activities is to go hunting for them. They turn ripe in the fall, and begin falling from the trees. The kids have a contest on who can find the most, the largest, etc. at our community park. It's almost like an Autumn Easter Egg hunt.
Let me say that we take them from our park because otherwise they are just mowed over. If we were at a state park, or a natural area, we would just leave them alone.
Once we have collected them, we can put them to lots of uses. I put them in the sensory tub in my preschool classroom, since they are textured. We also paint with them, rolling them around on paper. We have even decoupaged them with glitter, and hung them up as ornaments.
We saw them once at a Halloween party, labeled as Alien Brains.
Their usefulness extends beyond that of a decoration. The fruit is said to be a natural insect repellent, and you can even find them in stores and online to purchase to keep in your home. Some even say they can keep flies away. One can only wish.
The trees which bear the fruit have an interesting history. Native American would use the dense wood to make bows, and these bows were traded along the trail lines. The sharp thorns were a suggested use for hedge fences before the introduction of barbed wire. The wood was also used for fence post, and is still valued for tool and knife handles.
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