Paper Maché Animals

I saw these adorable paper mache animals on the Poppet Creative instagram feed and I fell in love with the little creations. When I showed the image to our kids in our Winter Camp they were all very excited to try and make one, so we came up with what we might need to make them.

I am not sure if it's close to the Poppet Creative process but here is what we came up with.

First the kids decided what animal they would like to make.  We had two wolves, two reindeer, two rabbits, a cat, an arctic fox

We started with tp rolls, newspaper, chopsticks, for legs and cardboard for ears and antlers. We taped on the legs with tape and left newspaper sticking out of the top for the head. We were then ready for the paper mache. 

 Oh paper mache. People have such mixed feelings about this sensory activity. I have actually had children cry as the goo begins to stick and dry to skin, itching and crying to get it off. I guess paper mache is not for every kid. This week though all of the children were very confident with their sensory capabilities. They loved it, sometimes adding on a lot more than needed. We had to actually wait 2 days before we could paint because some of the creatures were so wet.  We use a mixture of flour and water with white glue mixed in. to make our paste. We find that the white glue adds a hardness of the project.

We did one layer of paper mache before adding the cardboard antlers and ears. The great thing about having a cardboard or paper structure underneath is that you only have to do one layer unlike a balloon that needs a few layers to give it strength.

Then came the painting, bringing the animals to lie, giving them personalities. After painting they added, scarfs, earmuffs, painted striped leggings. 

This child decided to add sticks for the antlers of her reindeer. 

The personalities in these little faces are just so delightful. 

In order to make the animals stand, I drilled holes in the rounds of wood to place the animals legs. Sometimes I had to hot glue the legs into the holes in the wood. 

We also decided to make little winter train cars for the animals from milk cartons. But that can be a post for another day.