I was looking for a no stress, mess free craft that would keep everyone happy on a rainy afternoon. And some Safari beasts came to mind:
Hood #4 has been reading a book on camouflage for science for school:
And we have been reading stories of animals from this book :
Also, we have been looking at the great artist: Henri Rousseau, who is a great inspiration for many many art projects, with his lovely surprises hidden in the jungle. Here is a fabulous web site with Rousseau in mind: NGAKids – Henri Rousseau and if you are looking for his biography then visit this great resource.
Well I managed to keep everyone happy, but I can’t say it was entirely mess free!!! Also my craft materials are low, so I needed to use things I had lying around…
Meet the Players: We used torn up magazine pages, plain paper and a marker, wallpaper paste, a craft knife, a chopping board and some wild animal printed paper for weaving.
Let’s Play the Game:
Step 1: So we tore up some magazine pages. We especially looked for natural Safari colors: greens, browns and blues.
Step 2: Everyone drew a fat animal on a piece of paper. One Hood had to draw a snake, say no more – maybe a puffadder, they are really fat!
Then the animals were outlined with fat black marker. Clean enough! Except the one permanent marker that wondered off and decorated the fridge – all on its own (no-one claimed responsibility for the crime), luckily I managed to control it timeously!!!
Step 3: Next we did a bit of collage or paper mache on a flat piece of paper. Turned the pictures over and pasted wall paper glue all over them.
And then smothered them in torn magazine picture strips.
And then smothered on more glue and smothered on more strips, until there was no white showing and they were dripping with glue.
Step 4: Then we left them overnight to dry. Luckily we had a supper break as a distraction.
This is what the beasts looked like the next morning, after a good nights rest.
Step 5: Here they are: dry and good to go. Turn the page towards the animal and cut thin strips, with a craft knife, across your animal. Obviously use all the adult intervention that you need.
Step 6: Cut thin strips of paper that have contrasting colors – no greens, browns or blues! I had some wonderful animal print paper lying around. And weave them through your beast… over, under, over, under… and your art should look like this.
And your papers should end up looking like this:
Step 7: And this was the unexpected result… Our beasts were so well camouflaged that we couldn’t discern them at all.
Aha! That’s what camouflage is all about – really it is, and that’s why wild animals can have such beautiful vivid colors and still be well hidden on the safari plains – really quite amazing… lesson learnt!
So we carefully gave our beasts a haircut.
And here they are, in all their revealed glory:
And all this talk of tigers means that we will have to read:
