You can vary the complexity of the project depending on the age of the child. Let the child do as many of the steps as they can/want to.
Start with a ball of clay.
Flatten the ball of clay. An older child could use a rolling pin, but this four year old just pressed in down with her fingers.
Mold the clay around the child’s index finger. Try to use a small amount of clay, so the puppet isn’t too heavy, especially for those pre-school fingers.
Shape this base as desired. We decided on a snowman. Simple and easy for my four year old grand-daughter. An older child might want more detail.
Gently lift off the finger and set aside. Next we made a little carrot nose.
Now the hard part—waiting for it to dry. Set expectation about this at the very beginning of the project, so your young artist doesn’t expect a finished product immediately.
Next, we embellished our snowman. We painted the carrot nose and while it was drying, we painted the snowman body with thinned down water-based adhesive and sprinkled with fine clear glitter. We glued on his googly eyes, nose and rhinestone buttons. (Yes, you'll see blobs of glue around the eyes, nose and buttons. The form isn't as smooth and refined as it could be, but
There are lots of ways to embellish this basic form to get a whole cast of characters. Paint it brown, add a red pompom or rhinestone nose and chenille stems for antlers, and you have a reindeer. Paint the lower two-thirds green and the upper third flesh-toned. Add button eyes and a nose, use a Sharpie to draw a mouth and you have an elf.
Visit my Create & Craft blog to see what else I'm working on.
