Football Sculpture

What You Need:

• Balloon
• Newspaper
• Papier-mâché paste
• Brown construction paper
• Masking tape
• Cardboard
• Scissors
• Tempera paints and brushes
• Yarn
• Glue

What You Do:

1. Before you can create the sculpture, you need to create an armature, the skeleton that forms the sculture's shape. Start by blowing up a balloon until it's slightly larger than a grapefruit. This is a great time to discuss shapes with her. What kind of shapes make up a football?
2. Cut the cardboard into triangles, and help your child roll them up into cones.
3. Then, tape the cones on opposite sides of the balloon to make a football shape.
4. Now, help her completely cover the balloon and cones with newspaper and tape.
5. Now that you have the armature, it's time to get it looking like a football. Have her cut the brown construction paper into strips.
6. Have her take one strip of paper at a time, dip it into the papier-mâché paste, and wrap it around the armature. Repeat until all the newspaper is covered.
7. Set the sculpture aside to dry.
8. When it's completely dry, you're ready to decorate. Let her get creative! She can use the tempera paints to add pictures, a team symbol, or her favorite team colors around the outside of her football.
9. Finally, have her cut short pieces of yarn and glue them to the top to represent the football’s laces.

Want to do more sporty papier-mâché projects? Use a single balloon to create an over-sized tennis ball or baseball, or add a dimpled layer of paper on top of the balloon for a fun golf theme. Soon, your child will have a whole gallery of papier-mâché sports balls!