(Goblin is 4 years old)
Goblin loves the
Octonauts, and I am happy with his obsession because the cartoon is very educational. Goblin has learnt loads about marine life from watching these short episodes and it has reinforced his existing fascination with sea creatures. So I wasn't surprised when he asked if we could build an octopod.
We used bowls from the kitchen covered in clingfilm (to stop the paper mache sticking to the bowls). I used a mix of PVA and glue (50:50) to stick the strips down, and used about three layers on each bowl. Then I left them to dry for a week (yes it takes a long time).
After I liberated the bowls from the paper mache, Goblin painted them while I made cardboard bases. I attached the bases to the bowl tops with paper fasteners (because the double sided tape was useless). I used duct tape on the bigger pod.
Meanwhile Hublet bent wire coat hangers into shape for the legs - yep this was a whole family project. We used an exciting cardboard tube that we got a door mat in at Christmas, but you could fashion a tube from cardboard if you don't have a convenient tube to hand.
Goblin helped me make a mural for the inside of the octopod depicting the windows and internal contents. And then we stuck it all together with more duct tape ('when in doubt add more duct tape' - our family moto). And there we have it, one octopod ready to play with.
A family art project that becomes a play thing!!! You guys are inspirational!
ReplyDeleteThat is seriously awesome! I'm yet to do any papier-mache with The Boy as I've been trying to think of a decent activity. This is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThis just motivated me to do a longer art project with my son. He's totally ready for something like this but we've only done projects so far that happen within the span of 30 minutes. Thank you for that.
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