Ready-witted Parents: Appliqué Work with Toddlers: 3 Cheerful Giraffes

A contest in one of the Russian collective blogs made me think that it would be a great idea to organize "theme evenings" for our child from time to time. One of the evenings of the previous week we devoted to the topic "Giraffe".

First of all, we examined the giraffes we'd got at home (photos, toys). Then, together with our daughter, we printed out three copies of the giraffe for colouring which I'd found in the Internet (the process of printing out is much fun for the toddler of 20 mo). And now we are ready to start our work: mummy's imagination plus Sonya's enthusiasm.

Applique Work "Giraffe" # 1: coffee, napkins and buckwheat

This appliqué work was made with the use of different materials. I wanted to use some "unordinary ingredients" (coffee, napkins, buckwheat) and our Soniya (22 mo) was very interested in

gluing. The appliqué work with a set contour turned out to be interesting not only for the fine motor skills but also for the developing of the feeling of space (you shouldn't go beyond the contour when gluing). I helped our daughter only a bit: with painting the giraffe's nose and gluing the buckwheat and coffee.

Our first giraffe appeared to be 3-D:

An illustrated tutorial from Soniya:: appliqué work "Giraffe" from napkins, coffee and buckwheat

You can make all the pics bigger clicking on them

Applique Work "Giraffe" # 2

The theme evening was prolonged for three days. Spontaneously as Soniya found the second printed copy of the giraffe and decided to decorate it with plasticine (modeling clay) herself. The choice of colours was totally hers. I asked her whether I could help her a bit and she, graciously , allowed.

The work in process:

This craft was also very useful for the developing of fine motor skills and the feeling of space.

Collage "Giraffe" # 3

One more evening – one more appliqué work on the subject "Giraffe". I found interesting photos of giraffes in the Internet (a baby giraffe drinking milk from a bottle, the one easting a "cake", walking giraffes, etc.) and, having arranged all of them on one sheet of paper, printed them out. We made a collage around the giraffe painted with Soniya's hand. When cutting out the pictures with giraffes, I asked Soniya which one she would like to glue next. Afterwards, we put dots with watercolours and a brusg onto the painted giraffe.