Our little ballerina is a modified version of a palm puppet from India, we found in Alexandra M. Terizian's The Kids' Multicultural Art Book, Art & Craft Experiences from Around the World.We started with a folded piece of thin cardboard. Card stock would work nicely, too.
I traced out the body, arms, and legs separately, lining up the top of the bun with fold, and making the body fairly wide, and chunky.
I cut them out, one body, two arms, and two legs...
...and let the girls decorate them with crayons, and pencils...
...on both sides of the pieces.
Then, I punched holes in the corners of the body, and the top of each leg, and arm, so the girls could fasten the legs, and arms inside the body piece, with paper fasteners, after we taped a pencil inside the body, as shown (the picture shows a straw, but it wasn't long before we switched it to a pencil, taped in with duct tape, for added strength).
To make the puppet dance, you hold the pencil between your palms...
...and twirl it gently, back and forth, making the arms, and legs jump up, and down.
The girls absolutely love them. Actually, so does their brother.
I'm sure, we'll be using the pattern from the book, which makes a little man, next.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
That is a great craft! I'll have to look for that book.
ReplyDeleteI like this craft too! They do look very pleased with it.
ReplyDeleteThat is a wonderful toy!
ReplyDeleteYou have a very interesting blog and it's great to read about your great ideas! I used to homeschool and now have 1 at 'real' school and 2 doing correspondence. I miss the days of total homeschool and often add my own things to the sent work. Mother knows best, right?
ReplyDeleteI know someone here who would have fun with that.
ReplyDeleteI've seen some of those books and they look so cool!
ReplyDeleteThat does look like fun! E is starting ballet lessons this fall, so I'm sure she'd love this too.
ReplyDelete