Paper plate mermaid

Magical mermaids! Always thought the bumpy rim on a paper plate would make a good scaly tail, so that's how this project started..
We used small pieces of sponge to paint her too, which was super quick, great fun and added a bit more texture.

You will need:
Two paper plates (ours were 15cm)
Scissors
Pencil
Craft glue or a glue stick
Paint
Old sponge
Black felt tip or gel pen

1. Draw a pencil line in one of the grooves on the plate rim and roughly mark the middle point of the plate. Count about 10 bumps along and draw another line in the groove. Join the top of these two lines to the dot in the middle of the plate, but curve the lines out a bit, so they're not completely straight (this top part is going to be your mermaid's body)

2. Cut this piece out and then cut the rim away from the centre of the plate. 

Cut five pieces from the rim that are about the same size as the rim on the body piece (10 bumps). 

Glue FOUR of these pieces to the body (leave one for the end of the tail). Glue them underneath, with the bumps showing. Just concentrate on lining up the top edge, and making a nice curve here for the tail. 

Don't worry about the sticky out bits at the bottom! We'll sort those out when the glue dries.

3. While the glue dries, make the head by drawing around the bottom of something like a small spice jar on a spare piece of paper plate centre. Cut it out, and if you want, trim two sides to make a more oval shape (optional).

4. For the mermaid's hair, cut out the middle of the second paper plate - we trimmed it all round, cutting more away on two sides, to make it oval shaped (again, this is optional) Ours ended up about 12cm long and 10cm wide.

5. Cut about a third off the head and place it on the hair, so she looks like she's got a fringe (bangs). When you're happy with the position, draw a pencil line right along the top of the head.

Then, roughly halfway along this line, fold the hair piece longways. and either cut straight along the folded line for a straight fringe, OR, as we did, start cutting just above the line, aiming for the end of the line, to make a centre parting!
Make sure the head piece fits in the slot, but don't stick it down yet.

6. To make the arms, draw around the top part of the mermaid's body on some spare paper plate middle. Make sure it's just the top of the body, so only go as far as the first ridge (see picture below). Then join the two ends with a gently curved line.

7. Draw a pencil line inside, mirroring the shape, so it's about 1cm wide (it doesn't have to be perfect!)

Cut the piece out and then snip through the pointy end of the shape, and follow the inside line.

8. Time to finish off the tail! cut away the sticky out bits at the bottom (I've drawn a pencil line, so you can see more clearly what I mean). Then draw a pencil line from the bottom of the second piece of plate rim to the end of the tail, tapering and making it thinner as you do, to make a nice curve. Keep it about a 1cm wide at the end.

9. To make an even looking tail end, draw a pencil line roughly in the middle of the remaining piece of plate rim. Cut away the sides at an angle, so it's the right size to fit on the end of the tail. Then cut out the curvy tail end, using the middle line as a guide. Glue in place.

10.  Painting time and we cut small pieces from an old sponge, about 2 to 3cm square. Press them in the paint and get sponging! Use one piece for each different colour.

First we painted the body, head and arms. We mixed lots of white with a little red, dab of yellow and tiny spot of blue.

The hair is a mix of yellow and orange splodges, but do the body and hair whatever colour you prefer.

The tail is green and blue splodges. 

Leave your mermaid pieces to dry.

11. Once dry, assemble your mermaid. Slide the arm piece over the body and angle it to one side. Trim the nearest arm, so it doesn't look too long. Make sure the arm piece is 1cm or so below the pointy top and glue in place. Glue the head to the top of the body, and then the body to the hair, sliding the head into the fringe slot. 

12. Cut small triangles for the bikini from some leftover rim, and glue them on. Use a black pen to draw on her face.

Obviously add glitter if you want to!

And hang on to the leftover rim pieces. I have some other ideas for them...

Rainbow foil fish - Easy Easter craft

'Just need to eat this bag of chocolate eggs so I can make some shiny shapes!'

Yes, this has got to be one of THE best excuses for chocolaty treats!

At the moment the shops are full of colourful foil wrapped eggs, bunnies, you name it - and I'd say the hardest part of this craft is getting the foil off in decent size pieces, or saving enough from impatient little people who just want to rip it off. So you end up with tin foil confetti!

Try to hang on to some if you can. You'll be glad you did.

You will need:
Colourful tin foil pieces
Kitchen foil (optional)
Cereal box card
Pencil
Scissors
Glue stick
Black marker pen (Sharpie)
Stick (optional)
String or yarn (optional)
Sticky tape (optional)

Now you see them...

1. To make a fish shape, draw half a fish on the fold of some cereal box card - we used one of the side box folds that was already there - cut out and use as your template. Make the fish any size you want - we made two, one about 14cm/51/2in. long, the other 10cm/4in.

2. Draw around your template and cut out the fish shapes. We made eight altogether.

Snip your colourful foil (and kitchen foil) into smaller pieces if you want. Cut away any straggly edges.

Then cover a card fish with a good layer of glue stick and start arranging your foil.

Overlap to avoid too many gaps and use more glue to stick these foil pieces down.

Don't worry about bits hanging over the edge, because these can be tucked around the back when you've finished. Rub more glue along the back edge before wrapping the foil around your shape.

3. We added a fin, this is optional though, just cut a small triangle from some spare card, rub some glue on, and cover with foil. Glue to your fish. Dot on eyes with a black marker pen (like a Sharpie).

4. Use your fish in a collage..

5. Or you could make a wall hanging.

Find a good stick - ours is a piece of driftwood from the beach, but something from the garden is perfect. Ours is about 40cm/15in. long.

Cut a length of string or yarn about 40cm/15in. long (just as a guide). Then cut two more pieces of string, double that length.

Tie the end of the shorter piece to the middle of your stick with a double knot. Tie the other pieces either side, but make the knot in the middle of the length of string, so you have plenty left to hang your shoal of fish.

6. Rub a good amount of glue stick over the middle part of the back of your fish and arrange them on the strings. Aim for the middle of your fish, but it really doesn't need to be perfect, so don't worry.

7. Give the glue a chance to dry, then turn the fish over and use some sticky tape to properly attach them to the string.

8. Cut away any stray strings. You may find some of the bottom fish don't look like they're swimming completely straight, but I think this just gives the display a bit more movement!

9. Hold your fish up by the two side strings, and when it looks even, tie the strings together and trim.

Lovely when they catch the light...

Of course you don't have to make fish, I'm just very fond of fish!! We have covered other shapes too.

Brian the Lion paper plate and mask - World Book Day

This is a very quick and easy paper plate craft that works perfectly well with my book, 'Brian the Lion goes into Space'. You can either leave it as a paper plate picture or make it into a mask. Could be handy with World Book Day around the corner!

You will need:

Large paper plate

Paint

A bowl/side plate

Scissors

Black pen (like a Sharpie)

Nail scissors (optional - adult supervision needed)

Elastic (optional)

Old pair of glasses frames (optional)

Sticky tape (optional)

1. Paint the centre of the plate yellow, all the way up to the bumpy rim - it really doesn't need to be neat!

2. Once the yellow has dried a bit, find a bowl or side plate that covers most of the centre of the paper plate. Then, keep your hand on the bowl or plate while painting the brown mane around it. Make sure to go right up to the edge of the bowl. (Make brown by mixing a little red with yellow and adding a dab of blue until you're happy with the shade). Don't be tempted to take the bowl or plate off too quickly!

3. Once dry, remove the bowl and you should have a lovely, crisp yellow circle.

Now it's time to cut the mane. First, make two cuts opposite each other, just up to the edge of the yellow circle.

 4. Then make another two cuts opposite each other, halfway between the ones you've just made.

5. Keep snipping halfway between your cuts, and work all the way around, until the cuts get closer together and you're happy with your mane. Doing the cutting like this keeps the mane even - it is also good scissor practice and it helps kids start to make judgements about space and distance.

6. Use a black pen like a Sharpie to draw on Brian's face. As a guide, the eyes here are about 6/7cm a part.

7. If you want to make him into a paper plate mask, then a grown up with have to make holes through the eyes with nail scissors. It helps to put some modelling clay behind the eyes, so there's something to push into. (Keep the scissors closed, press down and twist from side to side.) Make the holes a decent size, so it's easy to see out. You could make some slits in the nose too, if you want to.

8. I think the best way is to use sticky tape to stick an old glasses frame to the back of the mask. Very quick to do! And it keeps the mask nice and flat when you wear it.

9. You could attach some elastic to the mask instead, but the sides will tend to bend around the wearer's head.

Make holes at the side of his face, close to or just inside the mane. I found some of my son's paper reinforcement stickers and stuck them around the holes at the back.

Once you've knotted and tied the elastic to one side, get the mask wearer to hold it to their face while you gauge how much elastic you need on the other side. Hold the elastic at the chosen spot, and mark with black pen. Now thread it through the hole, tying a knot or two on or as near as possible to your black mark.
We painted over the knots on the front, so you don't see them so clearly.

 Think the mask would look better on a smaller child! Mine are all getting so big now..