Thinking Thursdays: If you see a crocodile...

Junior J has this certain fascination with crocodiles.  Crocs also seem like a favourite choice for children authors too, so we've read plenty of books starring this creature.  Recently, since the usual paint and paper routine was taking its toll (Will try to update the Art Adventures page when I have time! :p), we decided to make our own toothy green friend.  Here's how:

:: Gather materials, and a willing helper.  You will need 2 toilet paper rolls (1 must be cut up as shown below), green paint (or whatever colour you would like Mr Croc to be), green & red construction paper, white drawing block, thin masking tape, glitter glue (optional, but fun!), and stuff to make the eyes with (you can try buttons, or just draw them in.  We used goggly eyes, and if you do, be warned that those will be the first thing your lil helper will run away with!).

:: Tape the 2 longer half-pieces of toilet paper roll to the other paper roll, using masking tape (normal sticky tape is harder to paint over), as shown. Tape it with the mouth wide open, so that you leave some room for the mouth to open and close (very important for crocs!).  Do tape the inside of the mouth too, since croc will probably do alot of roaring so you want his mouth to stay intact as long as possible!  Cut off the sharp corners, such that the mouth has a nice rounded front.

:: Stick the 2 smaller half-pieces of the toilet roll to the bottom of the body, as shown, using tape again.  You could also cut out claws for your fearsome friend to have a better grip on his prey... 

:: Scrunch up construction paper in a cone-like shape and stuff into the back end of the body, and secure with tape.

:: Get lil helper (who by now should have messed up quite a bit of tape while helping you) to paint the whole body in your selected colour.

:: Leave overnight to dry.  Cut out sharp teeth from drawing block (you will need 4 rows), and tape them to the inside of the mouth, and cut out a nice tongue from red paper (it'll be one with a nice rounded edge, save the forked versions for snakes and lizards!), and tape that down too.  Then get lil helper to paint the inside of the mouth (you can see from the pic, I forgot to tape in the teeth first, so he painted the mouth twice to cover up the tape!):   

:: Stick/draw on the eyes for your ferocious friend.  You could add scales/markings using glitter glue, and perhaps draw in nostrils for the snout too.  

:: And there you have it!  Now go sing:

"Row row row your boat,

Gently down the stream,

If you see a crocodile,

Don't forget to scream!"

Ok, gotta run, will be back in the next post to share the croc-related books, as well as how to make the river scene for your new friend.  But before I run, have you made anything out of toilet paper rolls recently?  Do share!