Kids Coop - Easter Chicks

 
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Its time for Kids Coop. Please link up your kids craft posts and check out what every one else has been up to. This week I am linking the following:

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(Goblin is 41 months)

I saw an awesome idea on pinterest which I traced back to the facebook page of Little Birdie Invitations and Design. It was a string craft egg with a chocolate treat inside. I was going to have a go at making one when it dawned on my that if the chocolate was inside the egg you wouldn't be able to get it out to eat it - As a bit of a chocolate fiend this situation was unacceptable to me. So I decided to substitute the chocolate with a little chick. 

I used yellow pompoms, googley eyes, and craft foam for the beak. I glued the eyes and beak on and let them dry. I stretched the neck of a balloon and popped one in. Then I blew up the balloon. 

INSTANT CRAFT FAIL! As I blew up the balloon the beak and eyes fell off inside the balloon. AAAAGH!

 Unperturbed  I decided to continue with the activity and fix the chick at the end of the process. The next step was to cover the balloon in string. I found a bunch of wool that was left over when I did some needle point (they always give you more than you need). Goblin set to work chopping the yarn into foot long lengths. He got a bit enthusiastic at times and some of the lengths were significantly shorter.

We filled a bowl with PVA glue (regular white glue) and dipped each length in and wrapped it around the balloon. Every time I see this craft done on pinterest the end product looks planned and precision wrapped. This is the second time I have tried this and mine still looks like I threw the string at it from a distance. There must be a good technique but I haven't discovered it yet.

Goblin gave up after the first balloon and I finished off the others. I tried to make sure that there wool was evenly wrapped so the chick wouldn't fall out of any of the holes. When I was done I left our masterpieces to dry on a baking rack. It took 24 hours and several turns of the balloons to dry. There were rather large pools of glue on the floor under the tray when they were done. 

Finally I popped the balloons by chopping at the neck. The first balloon deflated perfectly, and I was able to chop the other end off through the egg and release the chick, which had miraculously kept its eyes and beak intact. My second and third attempts were not so successful. The glue had formed a layer over the balloon so that when I went to pop it it retained its shape and I had to pry it away from the balloon with the subsequent implosion of the egg. I did eventually free the wool from the deflated balloon, extract the chick through the mangle of wool. Reaffix the eyes and beak and insert it before 'puffing' it up again to a suitable egg shape - they are more resilient than they look. 

The final products are quite cute. Goblin can give them to his grandparents for Easter. They are particularly suitable for Grandpa who, with his type 2 diabetes really shouldn't be getting a chocolate egg.

And now to the Linky

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