Go Green! Go Whales!

Whales! My favorite marine mammal since I was approximately 22.67 seconds old. They're ginormous, loving creatures and I can't get enough of them.

So, as you can imagine, I was totally psyched to do a kids' reading project for Julie Fogliano's awesome children's book, "If You Want to See a Whale".

A little background for ya: I work at the local library and do story time for the kids in the morning. I pick a book, read it and make a craft/activity. It's totally great.

I LOVE this book for so many reasons. The big ones are:
1. Language- The artistry Fogliano uses in her prose is stunning. I'm a grown woman, but the words she uses give me delightful chills of both awe and inspiration.
2. Illustrations- The pictures are incredible. I spent the better part of a half hour just looking at every detail in the illustrations of this book. So lovely. *sigh*

Anyway, enough swooning. On to the craft!

The kids loved this one and, I must say, I really enjoyed it as well! For this craft, you will need:
1. Exacto knife or scalpel (something very sharp for little cuts; mind those fingers!)
2. Scissors
3. Molded-fiber egg carton(s); one (dozen size) carton makes 8 whales
4. Blue or gray acrylic paint; paint brush
5. Permanent marker and/or googly eyes
6. Elmer's glue (if you opt for the googly eyes)
7. Empty toilet paper tubes

I started out trimming down the egg carton. Remove the lid and the little flap to close on the side. You should end up with just the little cups attached together.

Like this:

Pretty easy, eh? Next step!

Make cuts for the tail on the second cup for each side and follow the curve of the cup around. These were pretty easy with the Exacto knife. It should resemble something like this:

Aren't they looking cute already?! Sorry, I just can't contain myself. The entire time I was making these, I was squealing like a little kid with a new puppy... or an adult with a new puppy. Puppies are great.

Anyway, back to the task at hand!

In the half cups you have left, cut another set of tails and follow the curves into two more whales. Like this:

I found that cutting the outlines of the tails on either side of the cup was much easier for the finishing cuts than removing one and grappling with the other. But, you're your own person and you'll do as you please. Just thought I'd be helpful so you can avoid front page of the Pinterest fail blogs. ;)

Next! Trim off the elongated and irregular bits (I called them stilettos) from your whale bellies with scissors. Sometimes there are bits that bump out or go up a bit too far to cut off. That's okay. Whales aren't perfect. It's part of their charm. Plus, I guarantee the kids won't mind, they'll be too excited about the activity!

Totally forgot to take pictures of this step. Mah bad. You forgive me though, right?

Of course you do! Because I'm giving you this AWESOME idea to enrich your children's lives!

Now it's time to paint. Woohoo! Summon your inner Michelangelo, guys. I used only a small bottle of acrylic paint (actually, I used a mixture of blue and grey). A little goes a long way with these little cuties.

Aren't they sweet?! I just love 'em!

Once they're all painted, let them dry for a few minutes. Since the material is fibrous, this doesn't take long. Next: decide whether you want googly eyes or to draw them on. For the sake of this project, I glued them on with a little bit of Elmer's. Easy peasy, folks!

Aren't they great? For the activity with the kids, I hid these little guys around the library and had them decorate toilet paper tubes for their own spyglasses. They had a great time seeing how many they could find.

At the end, I let them take one home; they were thrilled. You could adapt this idea for lots of different whale-themed books or activities. It's easy, green and frugal: a few of my favorite things. ;)

Remember: No matter where you go, keep it homemade.