Who says the kitchen can't be fun? Ask your child to jazz up the family kitchen by creating an adorable, yet functional clothespin giraffe to sit on the counter and hold recipe cards. Your little one will be inspired to help out in the kitchen when he can read scrumptious recipes from the mouth of one of his favorite furry friends! This craft will show your child how everyday items can be reused to create new functional gizmos. As he cuts, glues, and decorates his creation, his creative energy and motor skills will be put to good use.
What You Need:
- Terracotta pot
- Plaster
- Wooden dowel
- Clothespin
- Acrylic paint
- Hot glue gun or rubber cement
- Several small pebbles
What You Do:
- Start by pouring some plaster into the terracotta pot. If their is a hole in the bottom of the pot, make sure to place either a small circle of cardboard or another item at the bottom to seal the hole.
- Help your child insert one end of the wooden dowel into the plaster until it hits the bottom of the pot. You want to leave a portion of the dowel sticking up, as this will be the giraffe's neck. Situate the dowel so that it stands erect in the center of the pot.
- Once the plaster has dried, cut the top portion of the dowel at an angle facing down, and then help your child glue the clothespin to that end of the dowel. This should leave the grabbing portion of the clothespin pointed downward (this will be your giraffe's mouth) and the upper portion resting flat against the dowel will point upward (this will be the giraffe's ears).
- After the glue used on the giraffe's head has dried, encourage your child to paint the dowel and head as he thinks a giraffe should look (such as yellow with brown spots). Remind him to paint a face on the giraffe as well.
- Once the paint has dried, your child can further decorate the pot with paint. Let him brainstorm what design he thinks would look best, and offer up any ideas that match your kitchen. With all the paint dry, fill the remaining portion of the pot around the giraffe with a few small pebbles or rocks to hide the plaster.
- Your child now has a a giraffe poking its head up that is ready to help you out while cooking. Encourage your child to open the mouth of the giraffe by pressing on its ears, and feed it a recipe card!
Your child's little creation may be just the extra incentive he needs to join you in the kitchen! Ask him to join you in making his favorite meal. The learning provided by this activity never stops as you can begin to teach him how to read recipes and valuable cooking basics.
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