Flamingo Fun

Hello again! I have more bird crafts to share with you. I taught the kids about flamingos on Wednesday and then they each made their own. I drew a flamingo body (sans legs) free-hand and two webbed feet. Then I put out every shade of pink crayon that we have -- about 15. (We have the 120-count box of Crayola crayons and no two colors are the same. They also have crazy names, like Screamin' Green, Macaroni and Cheese, and, very fittingly, Pink Flamingo.) The kids colored their flamingos using as many shades of pink as they wanted. I also put out a black crayon for the beak. Then they added an eye and I cut everything out.

They picked out a pink pipe cleaner (I had three different shades) and I cut it in half. Now, I'm not a fan of glue and pipe cleaners. It never turns out well. So I went with clear packaging tape. Love that stuff. Anyway, the legs were taped to the back of the body and the feet were taped to the bottom of the legs (using very skinny pieces of tape).

Then the kids picked out a pink feather, just to add a little somethin', and that was also taped to the back of the body.

See how it just adds a bit of fun? When I displayed these around the room, I put some of the legs in walking positions and some in resting positions (with one leg up).

They look so good on our blue wall!

Last year I made them twice as big and the kids put a pink handprint on the body for the wing. I loved it but was trying to use less paper this year.

I do like my beak better in last year's drawing, though. It's more curved in at the tip, the way it should be. I have to make sure I do that next year.
So there you have it! Pretty in pink!

Fun Fact: A flamingo's "knee" is actually its ankle bone. They stand on their toes, like many birds, so it looks like their legs bend the opposite way as humans.