Eric Carle Inspired Fish

Here are some fish we made from painting paper in different colors and then cutting it up.  Inspired by Eric Carle.

We used a bunch of different instruments to color sheets of paper.  Then I cut them into scales.

Children picked a color to stamp a head. After it dried I cut of the body.

Then the children collage on the scales.  I showed them pictures of actual fish scales and how they overlapped. But didn't push that concept, and let them put them on however they wanted.

Hedgehog Pencil Holder

Since I don't have access to a kiln at the moment, I used this recipe for an air drying clay.

I found 1 batch made two hedgehogs.

Baking Soda Clay Recipe (courtesy of Mudworks, by MaryAnn F. Kohl, who calls it Play Clay)

1. mix 1 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup cornstarch in a saucepan

2. add 2/3 cup warm water and stir until smooth

3. over medium heat, boil and stir until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes

4. put on a board to cool some, knead it and play away!

5. modeled figures will air dry very quickly and are pure white in color.

Hedgehog Pencil Holders

I added brown color to my dough, but when it dried the color didn't come out well. Therefore, we ended up painting  over them.

Short pencils work best.  At first I bought regular pencils and cut them in half.  That was a lot of work cutting and sharpening all those pencils!  We made over 22 hedgehogs and each one contained 6 pencils.  Eventually, I got lazy and splurged and bought short pencils.  

So. Much. Easier.

Poke the pencils through and let it dry with the pencils in place.  (Also a perfect time to sneak in some one-to-one correspondence and basic math!) 

I took the colored pencils out the following day, so that they would dry more thoroughly.  Also, keep in mind that the holes may shrink a little.  Wiggling them a little to make the holes slightly bigger helps.

Then paint!  We added our eyes on afterwards, using black beans.

Cute!

Potted Hanging Saguaro

Thought this little guy came out super cute!  Here's a little picture tutorial of how I made this one.  It took a little over an hour to make.

Then I just sewed them together using a blanket stitch and stuffed it.

Glued him into a pot and made a very simple mini hanger.  

Voila!