Nut Buddy

What You Need:

• Walnuts and pecans in their shells
• Acrylic or tempera paint
• Paintbrushes
• Low-heat hot glue gun
• Scraps of felt
• Mini poms
• Large poms
• Thin ribbon
• Mini googly eyes
• Yarn, cut in 1" lengths
• Cardboard square, 6" x 6"
• Scissors

What You Do:

1. Ask your child if he wants his creature to resemble a real animal, or if he wants to create an imaginary creature.
2. Have him decide on the shape of his animal or creature and pick out how many pecans or walnuts he'll need to create the body.
3. Help him glue the nuts together with the hot glue gun.
4. Encourage him to paint his creature with acrylic or tempera paint. Allow the creature to dry.
5. He can now use the hot glue gun with your supervision to glue the yarn in place as hair. After the hair is adhered, if he wants it shorter, he can cut it down to create a specific hairstyle.
6. Cut out and glue on clothing using felt scraps.
7. Have him glue the googly eyes in place to create a personality for his creature.
8. If he'd like to make a base for his animal to sit on, have him paint the cardboard square and after it's dry, glue his nutty creature to the square.

These nature people are also delightful when peeking out of a table's centerpiece!