What are your plans for the school holidays? Maybe you’re going to visit the zoo, or a farm? However you’re spending the time off from school, our book Make Your Own Zoo by Tracey Radford has some lovely ideas for super fun crafting with your household recycling. Like these penguins for example! How cute are they? And so easy to make…you’ll have the whole South Pole in no time! If you'd like to meet some of the other creatures who live at the zoo, check out our video now!
A Party of Penguins
The penguins are great singers, they love to entertain. They’ll perform in any weather and like singing in the rain!
You will need
Egg carton - The penguins are made from the long pointy cones that help protect the eggs in the carton
1 x 2 in. (3 x 5 cm) cereal-box
Cardboard
Small scissors
General-purpose scissors
Glue
Yellow, white, and black paint
Paintbrush
Ruler
Pencil
Fine black felt-tip pen
1. Roughly cut out a whole cone from the egg carton so it’s easier to work with. Measure 1½ in. (4 cm) from the top and mark each side. Join the marks with a pencil line and then cut up from the bottom of the cone and along the line. Spending a little time measuring will stop you ending up with a wobbly penguin! Make your penguin bigger or smaller if you want.
2. Paint one side of the cone with a thick coat of white paint. Paint the cereal-box cardboard yellow. Leave to dry.
3. Use the pencil to draw an outline on the white side of the cone for the penguin’s chest and face. Then paint the rest of the cone black. When it’s dry, dot on some eyes with a fine black felt-tip pen.
4. Cut a thin strip of yellow cardboard for the beak, snip one end into a “V” shape, and cut off about 6 in. (1 cm).
5. To position the beak, make a horizontal slot under the eyes with the small scissors (keep the scissors flat and closed, press down, and twist slightly until the point pokes through). Make sure it’s wide enough for the beak. Put a dab of glue behind the slot and push the beak in.
6. Cut two small, thin triangles from the yellow cardboard for feet and round off the ends a little. Glue the pointy ends underneath the cone and leave to dry before bending into place.
TIP: You can simply skip steps 4 and 5 and draw or paint on a beak instead.
To make the whole gang of zoo creatures, check out Make Your Own Zoo by Tracey Radford.