Elmer the Elephant by David Mckee

   

  

Try some paper weaving and colouring to make an Elmer picture!

Activity: Paper weaving & colouring

Age: Yr 1 - Yr 6 (See tip at the bottom for how to adapt to use with older children)

Resources: Black paper, Strips of coloured paper, glue scissors


What to do:

1) Measure and draw a 2 cm border inside an A4 sheet of thick paper or card.

2) Measure 2cm lines across the inside of the border and cut slits following each one with a craft knife and ruler or fold the paper lengthways and use scissors to cut them from the middle, stopping at the border.

3) Cut 2 cm strips of coloured paper lengthways.

4) Weave your strips through your A4 paper lengthways, being sure to to start each strip the opposite of the last one e.g. 'over, under' 'under, over'.

5) Finish weaving and stick down the end of each strip on the front and the back of the paper.

6) Now you can either draw Elmer over the top of your weaving or draw and colour him in and then cut him out and glue him on top of your paper weaving background. (I will add an Elmer shape for you to use at the bottom of the post) Add a googly eye if you have one!

  

TIP: Older children love to do paper weaving. Here is an example of year 5/6 work. This was achieved by folding the paper lengthways, after drawing the border, then drawing curvy lines, instead of straight ones, and cutting up to the border while still folded, then open out. The strips used to weave are different widths.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr Seuss

                                       

Activity: Fishy printing

Age: Kindergarten & Year 1

Resources: Potato, craft knife, red, white, green and blue paint, paint brush, yellow paper

1) Adult's job! Sharp knife in use! Draw a fish shape onto a halved potato then cut away the edges of the fish using a craft knife so that the fish shape stands out.



2) Paint the fish with thick paint (poster paint or acrylic) using a brush and print the shape onto yellow paper.

3) Either clean the shape each time a new colour is used or have 3 or 4 potato printers and use one for each colour.

4) Make repeating patterns!

Experiment with mixing colours on the fish printer like my son did here!



TIP: Add eyes and scales and more fins when the paint is dry using googly eyes from the craft shop and marker pens.

  

Not Now Bernard by David Mckee

"Hello, Dad," said Bernard.

David Mckee is one of my favourite authors and illustrators. I love his retro illustrations and the vibrant colours he uses.

Activity: Painting and drawing in the style of David Mckee

Year group: 2 onwards

Resources: Colour wheel, pencil, eraser, paint, paint brush paper, scissors, black pen, colouring pencils, glue

What to do:

1. Choose 3 colours that sit near to one another on the colour wheel e.g yellow, orange & red.

2. Use a ruler and pencil to divide the paper into walls and floor of the room.

3. Paint the walls and floor in the three chosen colours, using two colours for the main wall, the lighter at the bottom. Blend the colours
with horizontal strokes.

4. Now for the characters. On a separate piece of paper draw your character in the style of David Mckee. You can achieve this by starting with a chunky body, a head almost the same size as the body and short chunky legs. Choose a pattern for the sweater.

5. Once you are happy with your character, draw around him/her using black pen, then rub out the pencil marks. Colour your character using coloured pencils. Finally cut out and place on top of your background.

6. Use this technique to make more characters, furniture and objects.

7. Finally, when you are happy with your layout, glue each piece down.

You could continue this process to make a whole book. Add text if you want to! Why not include a mum or a dad, a monster and YOU!

TIP: To save time, photocopy your characters multiple times and colour it in afterwards if you want to add them to more pages.