Cucumber Carving

What You Need:

• Plastic knife
• Table
• Newspaper
• Cucumber
• Toothpicks
• Pen

What You Do:

1. Cover your table with newspaper.
2. Demonstrate the safe way to cut the cucumber. Firmly grip the plastic knife and make a sawing, back-and-forth motion to gently cut through the cucumber.
3. Have your child cut off the “head” of your cat. Anywhere between three to five inches will work.
4. Help him use a pen to mark where cat's eyes should be on the head.
5. Point how the different shades of green on the cucumber. The deeper he cuts into the cucumber, the lighter the green will be.
6. Let him use a knife to cut and dig out the eyes for the cat, using the pen marks as a guide.
7. Time to make the cat's ears. Feel free to get a little more hands' on with these next steps -- cat ears can be tricky to make.
8. Have your child use the pen to draw a "V" shape where each ear should be.
9. Let him draw a smaller "V" inside each big "V."
10. Take the plastic knife and carefully cut along the pen lines.
11. Use a toothpick to prop each ear up.
12. Next are the legs! Use the plastic knife to cut a piece of cucumber about three inches long.
13. Have your child cut that piece into fourths.
14. Let him use toothpicks to attach each leg to the rest of the cucumber (the cat's body). Have your child experiment, deciding how many toothpicks to use for each leg.
15. Now that he's gotten the hang of toothpick attaching, let him put the cat's head on the body.
16. Have your child use the remaining cucumber scraps to make a tail. 
17. Attatch the tail with another toothpick.

Why not make a whole zoo out of your vegetable drawer? Use this tasty arts and craft project to explore unusual creatures with your child -- or you can get creative by constructing a whole new type of animal!