Bend a pipe cleaner puppy

Steps for twisting
pipe cleaners illustrated.

Brief Description: Small children can learn much about sculpture by playing with pipe cleaners (chenille stems), especially if given some simple steps to follow.

Supply List:

• one variety pack of pipe cleaners
• scissors
• one tiny charm for his dog tags
• two tiny seed beads for his eyes

Directions: The following steps are pictured on the right.

1. First bend the upper body shape of your dog. This will be his tail, belly, neck and head.
2. Then cut one long chenille stem in half and twist one of these just below the beginning point of the dog's tail and the other stem at the beginning point of the dog's head.
3. Proceed to fill in the dog's body with as many stems as you need, more for a large fat dog, less for a tall skinny dog. Play around with your wire form to give it character.
   
4. Bend in ears, glue on eyes and twist on a collar after stringing the charm for a dog collar.

Additional Suggestions: Projects such as these give children a concrete idea to work towards. After they have mastered this process of including those features that should be anticipated, encourage them to create silly monsters that may look like anything. Take small steps toward creative big steps. Encourage with predictability and then challenge your young students to take unpredictable measures afterwards.

From "Remarkable Lifelike Little Dogs
Made from Pipe Clearners"
(April, 1933 issue) by Popular Science

This pipe cleaner pup has an
additional detailed collar.

Remember to think about "how"
your wire dog looks from
a variety of angles.

From this angle this pup
looks pretty relaxed.

photographs and written craft pages copyrighted by Grimm 2017

Skymagenta crafts pipe cleaners or chenille stems into peacocks. 

Children love to paint rock pets

Left to right, a blue horse, 
a fanciful peacock and a purple mouse.

Brief Description: Pet rocks come in all shapes and sizes. The creator is only limited by his or her imagination. My youngest made these at camp when she was very small.

Supply List:

• a variety of rocks
• a variety of shells
• decorative feathers
• twine
• several colors of acrylic paint
• small scrap pieces of cardboard
• plastic eyes and beads
• wood glue
• hot glue gun (the adults must have one at hand)

Directions:

1.  First you must hunt for your rock pet and this could take an entire day at the beach. People might think that this is an easy thing to do, but it is quite difficult. Not every rock is destined to be a pet. 
2.  After finding your future pet, you must turn the rock over and over in your hands and decide what kind of pet that the rock is ment to be. Observe the rock from different angles, eat lunch, perhaps take a nap in the sun. This is a long arduous process when a person is away at camp because most rock pets are made at camp. Didn't I mention this fact?
3.  When you have decided "what" your pet rock shall become, select with care his or her features. It is important to remember that if your rock pet is a girl, it should be painted in girl colors. I'm not going to say what "girl" colors are but most rock pet artists instinctively know what these are. You don't want to embarrass your pet rock by making a mistake like that.
4.  Arrange the features of your pet and glue these on. This can be a bit tricky but there is usually some big person present with a hot glue gun who will make sure that those features do adhere in time.
5.  Now it is about time to return to the beach and play until sunset.
6.  After the features of your pet have dried, (this could take a day) you may paint your pet with acrylic paints. 
7.  Let your new pet dry again over night and then take him away to hide under your pillow or display him on your dresser. Rock pets like to ride in the car just underneath the front seats.

Additional Suggestions: Although rock pets need no food, they do need much attention. These critters will listen to anyone talk for hours and they will never expect a fee for it. Parents should be forewarned that rock pets do have feelings and should never be randomly tossed away. I've had to keep several of these for over twenty years! If this were not the case then I wouldn't be able to blog an entry such as this, so my teenager has spoken.

In front is a large, pink, trumpeting elephant
with giant sea shell ears. In the background is 
a very sleepy black mouse.

photographs and written craft pages copyrighted by Grimm 2017

Older kids might prefer to make dot patterns on their rocks.