Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at Call Her Happy about “Your Family’s Story in Photos: Why You Should Consider a 365 Project”, and I’m excited to welcome Anna Culp of Wise Owl Baby to Bringing the Sunshine.
I only peek into Andi’s life through her blog, but I think my daughter, Alexandra, and Andi’s son, Nathan, would get along great in “real life”. As two-year-olds, they share some common interests: books and dogs, at the very least. That inspired me to create a parent-child art project that can be played with over and over again, modeled after one of children’s literature’s most beloved dogs: Alexandra Day’s Carl
Here’s what you’ll need:
• 2 pieces of cardboard or heavy cardstock
• crayons, markers, or any other coloring tools
• string
• 1 toilet paper tube, cut in half lengthwise
• stapler
• white glue
• 2 thumb-sized squares of Velcro
• photo of a dog (or favorite pet) and photo of your child, each about the size of a toilet paper tube, cut out
And here’s one way to create it:
1. Help your child glue each of the pictures of the child and the dog to a toilet paper tube, horizontally.
2. Outline places your child goes on two or more pieces of paper (I traced a coloring page for a farm, and free-handed a library, a slide, and a duck/goose pond.)
3. Prompt your child to color the pictures and add their own. Other ideas for illustrations (inspired by Carl’s adventures or daily life) include the grocery store, rooms of your house, day care, or a park.
4. Staple the papers together to create one long, horizontal scene.
5. Staple the strings about three inches apart on the left edge of the paper. Pull the strings straight across the papers and cut them at the right edge of the paper.
6. Staple each of the rough Velcro squares next to the stapled strings. Staple the soft Velcro squares onto the end of the strings.
7. Staple the cardboard into a cylinder, so that the scenes stand upright. (In my photo, the rough Velcro squares are not showing because I stapled them on after stapling it into a cylinder, which was more difficult.)
8. Lace the string through the picture tubes, so that the dog and child can explore the scenes by cruising along the strings. The Velcro allows for different picture tubes to be laced, if you decide to make more, or for the picture tubes to trade places.
This is a highly interpretable toy, wouldn’t you say?
Because staples or Velcro might wiggle free and find their way into toddler mouths, this is a toy that should only be played with under supervision.
Visit Life Your Way to see all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants!
