This hen was inspired by a paper plate challenge on Instagram and it's really simple to do. You could paint yours any colour you want, but we went for speckled, which is so quick!
You will need:
Two paper plates
Scissors
Paint
Glue
Red tissue paper (or plain paper painted red)
Yellow/orange tissue paper (optional)
1. First, cut a gentle curve, nearer to the top of your plate (see pic below) This is the shape of the hen's back, from the tail to the head. Best to draw a line on the plate for little makers, so they can cut along it.
2. Cut the wing from the spare piece of plate.
3. Use black paint to paint a line around the very edge of the plate, at the tail end. Paint along the ridges next to this line. Do the same on the wing. Then go dotty with your paintbrush!
3. Glue only the pointy end of the wing to the body. (If the paint's dry, use something heavy to keep the wing in place while the glue dries).
4. Paint the BACK of the second paper plate yellow. *When it's dry, cut the plate in half. Keep one half as it is, and cut feet, legs and a beak out of the other. Use the flat card in the centre of the plate for the leg strips and the beak triangle. Cut the feet from the ridged edge of the plate (see below)
*while the yellow paint is drying, you could move onto the next step and get the tissue paper pieces ready.
5. For the hen's comb (the red bit on top of her head) Cut a square of tissue paper, about 10cmx10cm and fold in half. Then scrunch it up (not too tightly..) and glue to the top of your chicken's head, covering the pointy bit.
Glue the beak about 1cm or so below the comb, then cut another smaller piece of tissue paper, about 5cmx5cm (for the hen's wattle), scrunch it up again, a bit more tightly this time, and glue just under the beak.
If you don't have any tissue paper, you could paint some plain paper red and cut out a comb shape, then simply paint a red splodge below the beak (for the wattle).
7. To make a nest for your chicken, roll or fold over your sheets of yellow and orange tissue paper and cut thin strips. Unfurl the strips, scrunch and tear them with your hands, so you end up with a pile of shredded tissue paper.
Brush a thin layer of glue over the yellow paper plate half, and press the shredded tissue paper into the glue. Once dry, trim if you need to.
If you don't have tissue paper, Paint or use an orange felt tip to draw a scatter of lines - make them different lengths and angles, to give a hay effect.
