Did you know that scarecrows have been around for centuries and date back to the Greeks and Egyptians? Scarecrows are still appreciated by today’s farmers—and loved by children (thanks mostly to the friendly character from the Wizard of Oz).

We invited kids to make their own scarecrows for our Kids’ Scarecrow Competition and were so impressed by the entries. They shared  their stories and photos with us for a chance to win a collection of Alison Lester books.

Jane Byrne is our regular Kids’ Corner contributor and generously donated her time to judge the competition.  She loved reviewing the entries — read on for Jane’s thoughts on her favourites and the well-deserved winner.

“Judging this competition was incredibly difficult,” commented competition judge, Jane Byrne. “The time and consideration to detail has been fabulous—and everyone gave their scarecrow a name, which was lovely. All of the entrants are winners, in my eyes.

“Congratulations to everyone, especially the parents for their efforts in writing the descriptions on how the scarecrows were constructed, and emailing the entries. I would love any of these scarecrows in my veggie garden! But there can only be one winner and Sylvie the Scarecrow stood out to me as a deserving prize winner. She writes of the winning entry:

Sylvie the Scarecrow - The winner

Meisje and Minnie Williams worked together to make Sylvie the scarecrow. “Sylvie looks like she’s done a hard day’s work in the garden and, as I was creatively told in her entry, finishes off the day by reading a Golden Book, The Two Little Gardeners to a chicken on a bale of straw. This really impressed me. Well done girls! I hope you will enjoy the wonderful selection of books by much loved author, Alison Lester.”

Sylvie the Scarecrow

Jane also reviewed other standout entries below.

The Prem family created this fabulous scarecrow using recycled materials and a plastic bag for the face. Their son named his scarecrow  ‘Pops’ and it's doing  a wonderful job protecting the chicken eggs from crows at his grandparents’ farm.

 
Pops the Scarecrow

Pops oozes larger-than-life personality, which our judge Jane absolutely loved.

Willow Stevens was our youngest entrant at just four years old. She did a fantastic job creating Rosie the scarecrow - finishing her off by carefully adding a cheery smile to her face. We think there may be a bit of a resemblance there, don’t you?

Rosie the Scarecrow

Our judge Jane thought Rosie was a wonderful scarecrow and would have loved to have seen her in the garden.

Evie Griffiths created Elsie the scarecrow to stand in a lush veggie patch.  Elsie wears a decorated monogrammed tee and floral-trimmed straw hat.

Elsie the Scarecrow

Our judge Jane was impressed with the sewing and crafting that went into Elsie’s look.

Thanks to all our wonderful entrants for all of your hard work and creativity!