Summer Reading with Activities at the Back of the Book - Day 3: Cardboard Tube Horses

In Carolyn Keene's Pony Problems - volume three of the Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew series, eight year old Nancy and friends set out to solve the mystery of a pony's nightly escape from a local petting zoo.

There are instructions at the back of the book for making a cork and toothpick pony.

As usual, we switched things around a little.  We have corks, but they're on the small side, and part of our science supplies, so we opted for cardboard tubes (which we always seem to have in abundance), and craft sticks.

For each of our horses, we gathered glue, scissors, and tape plus:

* Two empty cardboard tubes
* About a dozen, or so, 10'' pieces of yarn.
* 6 craft sticks
* 2 googly eyes
* and 2 small, brown paper arches (for ears)

We shortened one of the tubes, by cutting off about a quarter of the length.

Then, I sketched quick cutting lines for the girls, centered, on one end of both tubes (for neck slits), and punched a hole, on the opposite end, but the same side, of the longer tube (for the tail).

I also rolled the longer tube over, and sketched out two lines on both ends, for leg slits (keep paging down, and it should begin to make sense).

The girls cut the marked slits...

...and then slipped craft sticks into them (beginning with the legs)...

...taping the open end of the slit shut, to secure the sticks (a little, anyway).

Once they had the four legs in place, and adjusted, so the horses could stand...

...they slipped their last craft stick through the neck slit of the long tube (taping it the same as with the legs)...

...finally slipping the shorter tube onto the other end of the neck stick.

Then, all they had to do was glue on eyes (slightly to the sides on the head)...

...add a mane (by tying the pieces of yarn onto the neck stick, within and below the head area)...

...then, tie on a tail (through the hole in the back)...

...and glue on ears.

For a final touch, they trimmed the manes and tails to make them even, and pulled one piece of yarn forward, to fray out for "bangs".

C (age 8) chose a more whimsical color of yarn, and cut an extra slit at the top of the head, so the neck stick could slide all the way through, changing her horse into a unicorn...

...which didn't quite go along with Carolyn Keene's story line, but pleased C immensely, nonetheless.