Gorilla & Me Handprints

When we had our Jungle theme a couple weeks ago, I went to the library and checked out the book Actual Size, by Steve Jenkins. In it there is a picture of a life-sized adult gorilla hand. I thought it would be fun for the kids to see how much bigger it is compared to their hands. So I traced it to make a template and then I traced the template onto black construction paper. I used white paint to put a handprint of the child right on top of the gorilla handprint. And just for fun, after cutting it out, I glued it onto a colored piece of paper.

Note: It would have been easier to glue the gorilla handprint to the paper first, then get a handprint of the child. The paint from the kids' handprints made the black paper crinkle which made it hard to glue down smoothly.
My plan was to have the kids cut out the handprint themselves. I had my oldest try it first. And although she did great, she struggled with it a bit.

Usually when the kids cut something out I tell them it doesn't have to be perfect and they don't have to worry about staying on the lines. But for this project, if the kids didn't stay on the lines, the end result wouldn't be the same. If it looked nothing like a handprint, or was smaller than it was supposed to be, or if it was missing fingers, it would not have the same effect. So I cut the rest of them out.

And then I asked the kids what they would do if they met a gorilla. I wrote down their responses and posted them under their handprints on our door.

And I couldn't resist doing this project with my 16-month-old. Her tiny little handprint is so cute!

Fun Fact: Gorillas have fingerprints just like us!

Paper Plate Dinosaurs

I love this dinosaur craft. I found free templates at The Craft Train that were specifically made to go with paper plates. I printed them out on card stock. When cutting them out, I doubled the number of legs on the template to give the dinosaurs a more three-dimensional look.
First the kids painted half a paper plate using pom poms.

Then they picked which dinosaur they wanted to make and I cut out the pieces. The legs were all attached with glue dots, but either the head or tail was attached with a brass fastener so the kids could move them up and down. Then they added a wiggle eye and decorated them with markers.

I hung them around our Dino Camp sign. (Read more about our Dino Camp here.)

Thanks to The Craft Train for the free templates!

Handprint Dinosaurs

Here's a fun and quick dinosaur project for you! I painted the side of each child's index finger and thumb in a paint color of their choosing.

Then I stamped it onto a piece of paper. It was a little awkward to get the hand into the correct position, but we eventually got the hang of it.

That's the dinosaur's mouth and head! Once dry, the kids drew the rest of their dinosaur. They also used wiggle eyes.

 We had a couple dinosaurs guarding a nest,

 (one of which had a meteor headed straight for the eggs!)

 one taking a shower,

 and one ballerina dino dancing around her eggs!

Giant Dinosaurs

We did a Dinosaur unit a couple weeks ago. It's one of my favorite themes. Since I have a small class this summer, I decided to draw huge dinosaurs for them to color and decorate. I made a T-Rex and a Brachiosaurus (or a Diplodocus or any other "long neck" sauropod dinosaur). I drew them by hand and didn't let my perfectionism get in the way! I actually only drew one of each by hand. The big white paper I used was very thin so I could see through it and was able to trace the others. I rolled the paper up beforehand and when I passed them out to the kids I said, "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit." They didn't see what they got until they unrolled them! We had to go into another classroom to use their hard floor since coloring on carpet was sure to put a hole in the paper and we wouldn't have had enough room on our tables. The kids unrolled their papers and got to work decorating them!

When they were done, they added big wiggle eyes. During nap I cut them all out and displayed them in the hallway. I also wrote down the names of the dinosaurs using the kids' names. For example, the dinosaur that Liam made was a Liamosaurus.

And Sam's was a Samosaurus Rex.

Her dinosaur had a lovely hat on its head! They turned out great and the kids loved coloring such a big piece of paper.

Lassoin' Cowboys and Dress-Up Fun

I'm finally wrapping up our Wild West week, about 3 weeks after it happened. For this last project, I printed out a coloring sheet of a cowboy (found here), used white-out to get rid of the lasso and photocopied it on the far left side of the paper. The kids colored the cowboy and drew in a background.

Then they used white glue to make a line from the cowboy's hand to the right side of the paper and make a loop. They put a yellow piece of yarn on top of the glue to make the lasso.

All week long, the kids were dressing up as cowboys and cowgirls. I brought in a bunch of props, like hobby horses, cowboy hats and handkerchiefs. I also brought in two vests that my mom made for one of my classes many years ago. She also made some "chaps" with fake leather material and pieces of elastic. I thought the kids could wear one on each leg, but they just wrapped one of them around their waist and were good to go!

We also had a Wild West Day, where the kids came to school dressed as cowboys or girls. We had the cutest bunch of cowgirls I ever did see!

Wild West Sunsets

I love this craft. I did a post about desert sunsets, which are similar, a few years ago but I've received some e-mails from my readers asking for more details. So here it is. I put several drops of red and yellow food coloring in separate cups of water. The kids used droppers to decorate a coffee filter. (You will definitely want something under the coffee filter so you don't get water everywhere. We used construction paper.)

The red and yellow blended together to make orange in some spots. Once it was dry, I used a glue stick to attach it to a white piece of paper. Putting white paper behind it made the colors "pop" a bit more. It also made it sturdier. I left about an inch off at the bottom and then cut it off after it was glued to the paper so the bottom would be flat.

Then I cut a landscape out of black construction paper and glued it to the bottom of the filter.

Then I trimmed off the sides. Finally, the kids added cacti and a cowboy I had cut from black construction paper.

So that's it!

When I made my example years ago, I had also cut out a cowboy on a horse.

But who's got time for that? :0)

**If you like these, check out our Tropical Sunsets!**

Wild West Wanted Posters

Every time I do a Wild West theme, I make wanted posters of the kids. They wear a cowboy hat for the picture and they either smile or make a mad/mean face. Then I come up with a fun name for them. I make the poster using Microsoft Word, change the photo to black and white, and print them on sepia colored paper to make them look old.

You can always add more, like why they are wanted and where they were last seen. And you can make the reward something fun, like candy or hugs. But I always keep it simple.

My first year making these, I played around with them a little, trying to make them look really old and worn. I tried burning the edges and crumpling them up. But I didn't like them that way. It took away from the cuteness of the child's photo. So now I just hang them up normal with the title, Have you seen these Outlaws?

The hardest part about this is coming up with the names. Sometimes I had 24 kids in my class that needed unique cowboy names. (This year I had it easy with seven!) In case you are interested in doing something like this, here is a list of names you can choose from. I use either the child's first or last name, depending on what sounds better. The child's name usually comes last, but sometimes it is first. (In the list below, if it's a last name I only included the first letter.)

Quick-Draw Jackson
Easy-Ridin' Ian
Two-Steppin' Tanner
Mud-Kickin' Max
Lawless Logan
No Heart Noah
Jo Jo Jingles
Wild W...
Crazy Horse C...
Heartless H...
Zeke the Sneak
Boot-Scootin' Brooklynn
Saddlin' Up Sam
Lassoin' Liam
Stink-Eye Elliott
Gallopin' G...
B... the Bandit
Black Jack Justin
Poker Face Ace
Jack Rabbit Jacob
Horseback H...
Do-Si-Do Daniel
Gold-Rushin' R...
Rattlesnake Ryan

I hope that gives you some ideas!