“o” is for octopus!
hello all! i wanted to share a craft we did for the letter “o!” it’s very easy, so no excuses for all you scaredy-crafters out there (you like that? i just made that up 🙂 okay, here’s what you’ll need:
- a sheet of construction (or really any kind) of paper
- crayons or other coloring utensils
- wiggly eyes (we have kind with adhesive backing…oooo, fancy!)
- elmer’s glue
- a pair of scissors
- a pencil or pen
- a toilet paper tube, cut in half
alrighty, first, let your kiddos pick out a pick of construction paper and color/decorate their paper
silas decided to draw our family as octopuses. i don’t know why branden has crazy legs 🙂
here is ethan’s masterpiece. i think after getting frustrated he asked silas to draw an octopus for him. either way, he was very proud 🙂
alright, take your toilet paper tube and roll the paper onto it. when the edge reaches the paper again, mark it. this will tell you how wide to cut your paper so it only wraps around your tube once.
after you cut the excess off your paper, use a straight edge to mark 7 lines lengthwise, evenly spaced. you will cut these to make the octopus’ 8 legs.
cut along the lines, leaving 3-4 inches uncut at the top. this is where you’ll glue the toilet paper tube. if your kids are old enough to cut the paper themselves, this is good practice 🙂
okay, put some glue onto your tube and wrap the paper around it where it is uncut.
hold it for a few seconds until the glue dries a little
attach wiggly eyes. like how we did two different sizes so the octopus looks crazy? 🙂
here’s the fun part and kids of any age can do it with little or no help! take you pencil and, starting from the bottom of each “leg,” roll the strips up and around the pencil. the tighter you wrap, the more curly the legs will be.
once rolled, release the paper and, ta-da! you’ve got octopus legs! finish rolling all the legs, take a step back, and admire your simple, yet adorable octopus craft!
