I don't even know how to tell you how excited I have been to create these Pretty Parrots with my boys! I saw it over at Tippytoe Crafts and knew it was a MUST to go along with our bird theme.


Aren't they darling??!!! You can read Tippytoe's Tutorial HERE or I'm going to give the steps to how we created ours. Ok, it's practically the same steps, but I want to properly give credit where credit is due!  :)

1. I started by letting the boys pick 3 colors which I painted onto their hand and then they pressed their hands down on a white sheet of card stock paper. We did this at bedtime so they could dry completely overnight. In the morning when they were dry, I cut them out like pictured below.


2. Next you will need to create your parrot pieces. I looked at Tippytoe's and drew out my own to look just like hers. Now just in case the task of creating your own pieces seems daunting, I went ahead and created a little pattern that you can print off HERE to make it easier.

3. Trace the parrot body pattern onto a sheet of card stock paper (I let my boys pick what color they wanted) and then have your child cut it out.

4. Trace the beak and feet pattern pieces onto an orange sheet of card stock paper and cut them out. I did this step because the pieces were curvy and smaller.

5. Once all the pieces are cut out, glue the beak and legs to the parrot body.


6. Glue the handprints (wings) to the parrot body. We also glued on a large wiggly eye at this point. Tippytoe had her students draw their eye on, but since I am obsessed with wiggly eyes, we went that route.  :)


Ok, now they are totally adorable already, but there is one last step to complete them.


7. Pick 3 different colors of tissue paper to use as the tail feathers and cut about a 3/4" x 5" strip of all 3 colors. Then glue them to the bum of the parrot.  :)   After we completed our parrots I looked at Tippytoe's tutorial and realized they had glued their tail feathers on before their handprints. So you can do it either way you want.

This is totally unrelated, but look at this steal of a deal I found at Ross of all places....A HUGE pack of tissue paper of like 15 different colors. I know, who goes to Ross looking for craft supplies, right? I DO! Ha! I thought I died and went to heaven when I saw it.


After you are done gluing on the tissue paper feathers, your pretty parrot is complete! Now just stand back in amazement at the beautiful colors and then laugh at your children's parrot voices when they pretend they are talking.



We didn't read a specific parrot book to go along with this craft but we've been reading billions of about birds books that talk about parrots. Here are a couple:



Happy Crafting!!

Linking up to THESE fabulous Parties!

PS-Tippytoe Crafts guest posted a couple days ago here, showing us her adorable Cardinal Craft. If you missed it, you can check it out HERE.