Stuffed Stuff

What You Need:

• Scraps of craft paper
• Newspaper or other large scrap paper
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Yarn
• Pens, crayons, paint, and brushes

What You Do:

1. Have your child choose a simple shape or design for his stuffed plaything.
2. Help your child make a very large drawing of the chosen design on a large piece of craft paper.
3. Encourage him to cut the design out. To make two identical shapes at once, staple two sheets of craft paper together and cut them at the same time.
4. Have your child decorate both sides of the cutout using paint, crayons, markers, or colored pencils. You can also embellish the cutout with glitter, feathers, construction paper shapes, or other decorations.
5. Staple the two cutouts together along the edges, but make sure not to staple all the way around as you'll need to leave an opening for the stuffing part of the process.
6. Fill the cut out with wadded-up newspaper or other scraps of paper. Once it's fully stuffed, staple the open end closed.

For a fun twist, you can also stuff the shape with a gift, prizes, candy, rewards, or other fun items. You can even make an entire zoo, undersea world, or crazy shape garden of giant stuffed things!