We recently picked up the book Snowballs by Lois Ehlert at the library. It is a simple story about building a snowman family after it snows and the different types of objects you can use to decorate your snowman.
It was a fitting book for us since we've had tons of snow lately and my kids recently made this snowman with their Aunt Krista.
Even though the book was about building snowmen, I couldn't help but fall in love with Lois Ehlert's beautiful illustrations in the beginning of the story. I love aspen trees and coupling them with snow and beautiful birds seemed like a perfect craft!
We ended up making several variations and I think they all turned out beautiful! My toddler was even able to take part in this craft. Her craft is the 4th picture below.
For the background we cut strips of white cardstock paper, used a black crayon to mimic the lines in the aspen trees, and then glued them to what ever color background you choose. You can see in some of the variations above, we decided to rip a piece of tissue paper and add that as a snow layer underneath the aspen trees. I happened to have a piece that had the speckled glitter in it, which was perfect because the glitter kind of looks like seeds.
We also varied how we made our birds. I loved the different colors of the birds found in the illustrations of the book, so we made one with water colors, piecing together individual pieces...
And we also just made a solid red red.
I made a pattern of the different pieces if you want to make this craft. You can click HERE to download the file.
For the water colored bird, I had Luke use watercolors to paint one-half of a sheet of cardstock paper. I encouraged him to use several different colors just like the birds in the book. This half sheet will make 2 birds with my pattern.
When it is dry, trace the pattern pieces on the back of the paper and cut them out. We used a separate orange scrap of paper for the beak.
Then we used a glue stick to put the bird pieces together and then glued the bird on to our paper. Lastly, cut small legs out of brown paper and glue them to the bird. We slid the legs underneath the bird when we glued them on.
For the red bird, simply trace the whole bird pattern on to red cardstock and then cut and paste it onto your paper. I made this alternative for my toddler and I honestly ended up liking it better than the water colored birds. The colors are more vibrant!
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5 comments:
OH, this is so cute!! I love it!!
Rachel, these are absolutely gorgeous!! I love how you use so many different techniques in all your crafts, I can just imagine the fun that goes on in your home! I hope you are all feeling healthy and happy!!
Love this and will have to try this with all of our winter crafts.
Rachek I loved your craft!!! I have featured you in my blog post "Making art with winter birds!" . You can see it here http://maros-kindergarten.blogspot.gr/2013/01/blog-post_21.html
I would love your feedback!
This craft is wonderful! I love the watercolors and how the kids can really get into it. Such pretty artwork!
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