Turtle Shakers

SHAKE  .  SHAKE   .  SHAKE

This is a fun and cute craft you can do to make music shakers

I have always wanted to create something cute out of the little fruit cups my kids eat. 

Well here you go! 

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Three Green Pipe cleaners
• Fruit Cup
• hand full of Pasta shells (any kind)
• Plastic baggy
• green food coloring
• hot glue gun
• Green Paper (trace the bottom of your fruit cup and cut out the shape)
• Scissors 
• Googly eyes
• Pencil

Lets Begin!

1. First you want to take the pasta shells and put them in the zip lock bag. Add a few drops of green food coloring and shake! Open the bag and let them dry. 
2. Take a sharp object and poke four holes in the side of your fruit cup. You want to try to make them opposite of each other. Then you want to poke two holes in the front side by side about a 1/4" apart. this is where the head will go. 
3. FOR THE LEGS: Next let your child string the pipe cleaners through the holes to the other side. Be sure to leave the same about on each side. fold the pipe cleaner from the outside back in through the hole and twist them in the inside. Do that on all four sides. You can add a dab of hot glue where the hole and pipe cleaners meet so they don't swing, and the turtles legs stay sturdy. Fold the feet up.
4. FOR THE HEAD: Next take a pipe cleaner and fold it in half. Poke one side in one hole and the other side in the other from the inside of the cup twist the two ends together. then you can hot glue your googly eyes on the face. 
5. Take a few pasta shells and put them inside the cup. Be sure not to over stuff him or your pasta will not have room to shake. 
6. Take the hot glue gun and glue along the edge of the bottom of your turtle shell, take your green circle shape and place it on top. 
7. Emelia wanted a girl turtle so we added a flower to the top of her shell. You can decorate it or leave him as is. 

Tada it is done!  HOPE YOU HAD FUN!

Let's Use what we have

I have lagged a bit with the craft making. My daughter Emelia found a box of seashells in our garage over the weekend and quickly decided she wanted to make a craft with them. After she asked me morning, noon and night for two days to make a craft with these seashells I asked her what she wanted to make with them and she quickly replied "A kissing fish"

So I thought for a bit and came up with this cute little fish that you can do on the fly. All with things you will have around the home.


WANDA the KISSING FISH

What you will need

• Two Paper Plates (poster board will also work or any heavy weight paper)
• Paint, Crayons or Markers
• Magazine, or newspaper pages
• Pencil
• Googly Eye
• Seashells and hot glue (optional) or other decorations 
• Paste or Glue
• Scissors (kid scissors for those old enough to help cut)

Let's Get Started!

• First cut the shape of your fish out of the paper plates. You want a mirror image so cut them together. You want it to be in the shape of an oval with lips. 

• Then have your child paint or color the body of the fish. 

• While they are painting you can prep the fins. Or for those of you whom are gearing up for kindergarten and need to work in some scissor cutting skills you can have your child help with this. (apparently this is a super important skill for K) Cut three different shapes. I used about 5 sheets of magazine pages and cut them at the same time so I can fray them in different directions. Then from the top of your fins inward cut slits into the papers.

•  Next use the pencil and roll the ends around the paper to get a curl. you can then fray the them in different directions to get some texture. 

• The fish should be dry at this point if not blow dry it. Flip your fish over and glue your top fins and tail fins on so they are sticking out beyond the fish body. Glue the other fish body onto the back so the fins are sandwiched together. Flip it back over and glue on your front fin as well as your googly eye. 

• Next step would be to decorate your fish! Emelia wanted to use seashells so she placed your shells where she wanted them and I came back through and glued them down with a hot glue gun. 

DISPLAYING YOUR FISH.... We hot glued a heavy duty magnet to the back to display on our fridge but you can also add a string to the fish before you sandwich your fish bodies together. Just loop a string on the top so you can hang it up. Another cool idea would to paint a underwater scene onto a canvas and then glue your kissing fish onto it for a 3D painting. 

Emelia had so much fun creating this craft. She even had more fun playing with the left over seashells and listening for the ocean. :P