Kangaroo Snack Cups

After discussing the letter K today and learning about kangaroos, we made a kangaroo craft. I've done a kangaroo craft in the past, and I could have done it again because I have a different group of kids, but I wanted to do something new. So I searched around online and came across a craft from Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities. You can check out that link to find the complete instructions. She used her kangaroo cup for a flower and I thought it would work for a snack. So I took her pattern, but made the legs a little smaller because I was using dixie cups. I also cut everything out of paper instead of craft foam. I was just using what I already had available.

Each kid took one set of legs, one head, two ears, two arms, and two wiggle eyes. They used crayons to color all the body parts and then glued it together.

I used glue dots to glue the legs to the cup and to glue the stick to the inside of the cup.

We did try painting the dixie cups, but they got all mushy and kind of gross, so we ended up just using plain cups. I like the polka dots! I do think a bigger cup would look better, but I already had the dixie cups on hand for a different project. I also had some left over bags of fish crackers from trick-or-treating (I like to give crackers instead of candy to the wee little ones), so I put a bag in each "pouch."

I think they turned out pretty cute!

Fun Fact: A big kangaroo can leap up to 25 feet in one bound!

Kangaroos

Today was all about kangaroos, wallabies, and wallaroos! After teaching about them, we listened to the book Marsupial Sue by John Lithgow.

I said listened to because the book comes with a CD of John Lithgow singing the story. The kids really enjoyed it, and it provided a wonderful lesson for them: Always be true to who you are. (Thanks for letting me borrow the book, mom!)
And then after the story, the little girl whose grandma lives in Australia (I mentioned her in yesterday's post) had more surprises for us! She brought in Australian money and a real kangaroo hide!

I have no idea how her grandmother got this, but it was very cool to see. All the kids had a turn at touching the soft furry side and the smooth leathery side.
OK, now on to the art project. I found a coloring sheet of a kangaroo and joey.

I cut out the mama and baby so the kids could color them.

And then instead of using a paper pouch, I cut them out of felt and let the kids decorate them with glitter glue and sequins.

I would have used all different colors of felt, but brown was the only color I had on hand. One girl made her initial (E) on the pouch. How clever!
When they dried, the pouch was glued onto the mommy kangaroo, making sure to glue only the sides of it and not the top. That way the joey could fit right inside.

As a special surprise, when I put these in the kids' mailboxes at the end of the day, I added a sucker to the pouch!

Fun Fact: A kangaroo cannot run or walk on land because its back legs do not move separately. It can only hop. However, if the kangaroo is swimming, the legs can move independently!