Showing posts with label elephant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elephant. Show all posts

5/5/20

Mommy and Baby Construction Paper Elephants

Have you ever watched a baby elephant hold onto its mommy's tail as they walk? It's absolutely adorable. This simple construction paper craft is fun for Mother's Day or as a card for a baby shower. 



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Mommy and Baby Construction Paper Elephant Card



Materials:

  • construction paper
  • scissors
  • grey chalk
  • q-tip
  • glue
  • black pen


Steps:


Choose a piece of sky blue paper for the background. Leave it flat or fold it to make a card. Tear off a strip of green construction paper. With the torn side facing up, glue it to the bottom of the blue background.

Cut out the mommy elephant and baby elephant from grey construction paper. Each elephant has three parts - the body, the ear, and the tail. 


Use a q-tip to rub grey chalk along all the edges of the elephant body parts.  


Glue the ears and tails to the elephants, then add the eyes with a pen. Position the elephants so that Baby is holding Mommy's tail, then glue them in place. Add a message if you wish. 


A few fun facts about elephants:

  • Elephants plaster themselves in mud and throw dirt on themselves (known as dusting) to protect their skin from sunburns, to prevent overheating, and to repel bugs.
  • An elephant's large ear acts as a cooling system. When it is hot, they flap their ears and heat escapes through the large blood vessels on the backs of their ears.
  • For centuries, we thought there were two types of elephants (African and Asian). In 2011, scientists discovered that African Savannah and African Forest elephants are actually two different species. 
  • Elephant brains weigh 11 pounds, much more than any other land mammal. 
  • An elephant's eyelashes can grow up to 5 inches long. 

Elephants are amazing!


6/29/18

Elephant-on-a-Stick

Yeah, that's right. An elephant. On a stick.


It's a delicious mix of salty and sweet, it's ridiculously easy, and they could not be cuter (if I do say so myself). Interested in making some? 

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Elephant-on-a-Stick

Materials (affiliate links):


Steps:


For each elephant, you will need one round pretzel that is intact, and three broken pretzel pieces. You might find broken pretzels that are just the right size and shape; if not, break them yourself. It took me about three tries to learn where to break them to get the right size of ears and trunk.


Count out 10 black candy melts and 30 white candy melts. Together, they will make what I now think of as "narwhal grey," which is perfect for elephants. Follow the package directions to melt the wafers, then drop the head and ears of one elephant into the melted candy. Fish out the pieces with a fork (letting extra candy drip down) and place them on waxed paper. 


Use a spoon to fill in the elephant. This was my first one and I slopped over a little bit. Not a big deal, but it does take a few to get the feel for the right amount. Add the nonpareil eyes. 



Dip the trunk, then lift it out with the fork. Let it drain a few seconds before positioning it on the elephant. 



Move on to the next elephants. You'll get about 4 elephants before you'll need to prepare more candy melts. Let the candy harden at room temperature (30+ minutes) or speed up the process by popping them into the fridge or freezer (10+ minutes). 

When the candy has set up, peel each elephant away from the waxed paper. 


Turn all the elephants upside down on the waxed paper. Dip the lollipop sticks into partially cooled candy melts, then place them on the backs of the elephants. Twirl the sticks to make sure they're covered in candy, then let them set up completely.  


That's all there is to it! Elephant-on-a-stick!


What else should I put on a stick? I have a few ideas... stay tuned!