Archive for Animals

Bath Icebergs

March 1, 2012 · Filed under Animals, Science and Nature, Sculpture

This is fun! We have been messing around with ice a lot. This is so easy you could do this with virtually any age children…

I got jugs of water, and I watered down some drawing inks in different colours and put them in pipet bottles, which you can buy from a chemist or pharmacy. (They are not essential at all – you could just use little cups of mixed ink, but the bottles were interesting for Sam to use and they lasted longer…)

He filled washed-out old food containers with water and ink colours. The more different shapes of containers the better as they add to the variety. Make sure they’re flexible plastic and don’t use anything precious. I used my measuring jug and it wasn’t flexible enough and it split down the side, which was quite amazing in itself to see how strong the ice can be…

The ink behaves very beautifully in the water.

Add some plastic animals…

…and you’re ready for the freezer.

Next day, head upstairs…

…pop them out…

…and take a bath!!

 

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Modrock Giraffe

January 26, 2012 · Filed under Animals, Recycling, Sculpture, Stuff to Make

Sam wanted to make a giraffe in the same way we made our modrock turtle recently.

So we formed the body out of brown packing paper and tape. We put wooden canes inside his legs and neck to give him strength.

Covered in modrock and drying in the sun.

He’s called Gerry!

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Remembering Summer in the Garden…

January 2, 2012 · Filed under Animals, Science and Nature, The Garden

Last year I spent some time tidying our patio and making a small pond in an old half-barrel. It’s grey and cold out there at the moment, but I found these pictures taken in the summer to remind me of how beautiful it is when the sun’s shining and how lucky we are to have this space to share.

It’s just perfect for hanging out…

For sorting vehicles into colours…

And for the small creatures to have their very own bonfire party.

I love the winter too but on particularly grey days like today it’s nice to remember what’s round the corner…

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Modrock Turtle

October 10, 2011 · Filed under Animals, Recycling, Sculpture, Stuff to Make

We made this little guy from some recycled packaging and some Modrock:

Scrunch up some brown packing paper (or newspaper would probably do), into a rough ‘body’ shape. Secure with sellotape or masking tape.

Add a head.

And some legs.

This is what he looked like underneath. It definitely doesn’t need to be perfect, in fact a bit rough round the edges adds to the character…

From above.

Start cutting the modrock into small pieces.

You will need quite a few. A lot more than are shown in this photo, probably five or six times as many altogether.

Fully emerse  each piece in a bowl of cold water, and immediately stick it onto the turtle, as you rub a little, the plaster in the modrock softens and goes a little smoother.

It’s very tactile, a bit messy (but not as much as you’d expect), and really fun.

It begins to harden a little after a few minutes, but you don’t need to wait for it to dry in between layers, just keep layering it on.

After its all covered, feel for the ‘soft’ spots and add some more there…

Now leave to dry overnight. We put ours on top of the dehydrator as it was warm there.

Once dry – paint away!

We used acrylic paints as they are quick-drying and waterproof once dry. Just in case our little turtle decides to go out in the rain…

Finally, stick on some eyes! What a gloriously tactile and fun project, and what a cute little guy to add to our (growing) collection……..

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Wire Fish

October 5, 2011 · Filed under Animals, Recycling, Sculpture, Stuff to Make

We made these wire fish at our craft group recently. They look beautiful hanging under a light or in the window.

If you want to make one you will need wire of different thicknesses (we used recycled copper wire and craft shop copper wire), fine nose pliers or jewellery pliers for bending, and cutting pliers or wire cutters for cutting. Oh, and beads!

Use a thicker wire to make a body shape like this.

Start wrapping thinner wire around…

the children can then keep wrapping,

and adding in beads when they feel like it.

Add two side fins,

Twist them on,

and add a hanging wire.

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Fabulous Fimo Bird

April 6, 2011 · Filed under Animals, Stuff to Make

We got carried away with some polymer clay (Fimo,Sculpy etc.) recently, and this little chap was one of the results! He definitely helps to brighten up these rather dull Winter days.

You will need: Fimo or Sculpy in 2 colours, Feathers (we used bought but you could use found), Two tiny glass beads for the eyes, Some Craft Wire (must not be plastic coated) for the legs. Oh and also a darning needle to make holes in the body.

Use your main colour to form a sausage shape with tapered ends.

Add a beak. And carefully push two small beads in for the eyes (push them well in, otherwise they can fall out after the clay is hardened).

Take a piece of wire about 30cm long. Form a foot shape in the middle something like this…

…then twist the leg. Make two.

Attach to the body by pushing carefully in the bottom. Try to  bend the feet so that s/he will stand up.

Sam pushed the feathers where he wanted them…

…then I took them out and enlarged and lengthened the holes slightly with the needle.

We did some in his back for his wings…

…and some in his bottom for his tail feathers.

He goes on the baking tray with some other treasures we made.

‘Cook’ in a low heat oven as per the instructions on the clay pack, and wait ten minutes or so for them to cool enough. Then we used UHU type glue to stick the feathers in.

He likes to sit on top of the aquarium and watch us make other things…

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Sam’s Aquarium

February 5, 2011 · Filed under Animals, Drawing and Painting, Recycling, Science and Nature, Stuff to Make, The World and Geography

Thank you to Granny who suggested this project after a trip to the London Aquarium with Sam last week.

She actually suggested a tissue box, but we didn’t have one, so we improvised with a regular box:

We taped it up using masking tape (better than ordinary sellotape in this case as it’s easy to paint over later).

Sam drew a ‘window’ shape…

…then I cut it out with a craft knife.

We painted the outside, just using regular children’s paints,

Next we cut a flap in the top as shown above.

Painted the inside blue.

Drew and cut out some little sea creatures…

Found some green wool and some thread for the tiny ones, stuck a piece of thread or wool onto the back of each creature, then Sam taped them to the inside of the flap. It’s worth paying attention to which way round the creature faces before you stick it down, so you can get them all facing more or less forward.

We also taped some extra bits of wool to be water weed.

And there it is!

Sam’s mini Aquarium. We were both pretty chuffed with that. Thanks Granny!

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Recycled Glove Puppies

February 2, 2011 · Filed under Animals, Fabric and Needlework, Recycling, Stuff to Make


This little chap is called ‘Pink’. We made him from a pair of gloves using this book, kindly found and donated by my Mum.

This is a great book, with loads of other animals you can recycle from gloves and socks, and they’re very cute! The author’s website is here. It’s in Japanese but even if you can’t read it you can see photos of more of her animals in the gallery section.

We had to turn one glove inside out…

…cut two fingers off, sew up the hole, then turn back the right way…

…then stuff!

Arms are made from the leftover fingers.

It’s starting to look recognisable now!

The other glove makes the head, with two very gorgeous, floppy ears!

Nearly there…

And now for faces…

By evening, Pink was securely ensconced in our family, best friends with Kitty Cat.

This is a beautiful book which I would definitely recommend. I think you could have hours of fun and a lot of new friends on your hands (instead of gloves – get it?!)

Here is Amazon’s description:

‘Sock and Glove’ presents thirteen delightful softy projects that are quick to make – and certain to amuse and delight. Full of individuality and mischief, these stuffed creations are all pieced together from ordinary socks, gloves and mittens. Step-by-step illustrations and instructions make it easy to craft and dress a whole menagerie, including monkeys, elephants, piglets, bunnies, and even an insouciant fish. Endearing to adults and children alike, these whimsical creatures make perfect gifts and inspiring companions.

If you can’t get hold of the book, you could just play around cutting up and stuffing your old socks and gloves and see what happens. This could be very inventive and fun for children to do – I’m sure they will come up with some interesting new breeds!…

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Fun with Felt

January 8, 2011 · Filed under Animals, Fabric and Needlework, Stuff to Make, Textures and Patterns

Here’s a cute little chap we made at our craft group this month. These are all felt brooches, and the templates are designed by me. There are ten designs, and they are all available (free of charge) for you to print out and make your own. Here are the links to the PDFs: Owl, Bird, Heart, Turtle, Butterfly, Ladybird, Trefoil Flower, Fish, Starflower, Daisy.

You will need A4 paper to print out the template (just white copy paper is fine, it doesn’t need to be great quality). You will need a few different colours of felt, some buttons and maybe some beads, some embroidery thread or sewing thread, and a safety pin to attach to the back to form the brooch.

First cut out all the black pieces from the template sheet (the coloured one is for reference to show how the layers fit together). Next cut all the pieces from felt. You can use pins to hold the paper while you cut it, but we found we didn’t really need them, you can just hold it in place with your fingers while you cut. For the young children, they chose all the colours but we did the cutting. For older children though, they might want to use pins to help them do their own cutting.

Next layer the pieces, little ones can help with this, and can start to see their creature or motif emerging…

The templates are all designed so that they require minimal stitching. Once the children have chosen buttons for all the positions shown on the coloured image on the printed sheet, you can help them to sew their own buttons in place, through all the layers, and this holds the whole thing together.

Sew a safety pin onto the back…

…and wear with pride!

Twit Twoo!!

I hope you enjoy. Do let me know what you think…x

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Sculpture at Newby Hall

July 26, 2010 · Filed under Animals, Days Out, Sculpture, Textures and Patterns, The World and Geography

There was a sculpture exhibition at Newby Hall in Yorkshire this month.

 

Sam and Jay got stuck in to some stone carving…

Unfortunately they didn’t have time to finish it…

…but they know what they’re aiming for!….

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