If you kicked off summer over Memorial Day weekend with a slice of watermelon, this craft is for you! (And the kids, of course...)
Inspiration comes from the picture book The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli. My girls LOVE this book. Their reaction to it affirms that: Silly Animal + Silly Food = Silly Fun
You'll Need:
- Paper plates
- Dot stampers
- Tissue paper
- Raisins
- Scissors
- Glue
STEP #1: Prep the Paper
Start by cutting the paper plates in half. Then cut a few "bites" in the plates. (I did this, but big kids could probably handle it just fine.) While you have the scissors handy, cut the lime green tissue paper into 1- to 2-inch squares.
STEP #2: Get Stamping
Stamp the area inside the half-circle with a pink dot stamper. You could use marker or crayon, but the stamper color is the same brilliant shade as the book, and these special markers are fun to use and easy for kids to control.
Special Accommodations: My 5-year-old daughter, Elsa, has substantial developmental delays, and doesn't have the motor planning to hold or manipulate many things. This makes glueing and stamping pretty tough. But we power through. For this craft, I provided hand-over-hand support throughout, and we also used the tool EazyHold to encourage sustained grasp.
Here's a video of how the EazyHold works. Please forgive the abrupt ending. I was using an amateur videographer...
STEP #3: Add the Rind
This was a favorite step for my kiddos. Using glue, make dots around the plate rim. Then press the green squares into the glue. Tada! Textural rind is in place.
STEP #4: Glue on the Raisins
Raisins work well as a watermelon seed stand ins. And they also make a convenient mid-craft snack!
Complete! My littlest gal especially loved this activity. When daddy got home from work, the first thing she said was, "Craft Daddy! Craft!" Just the sweetest. Hope you give it a try! Let me know how it goes.