Creature Inventor Team
Work with a team to invent your own creatures! Design a unique habitat to inspire you to write all about their adventures!
1. In your inventor team, use Crayola Model Magic® to shape several different types of creature heads on short dowel sticks. Marbleize or mix colors as needed. Push feathers, yarn, or other decorative craft materials into the Model Magic while it’s fresh. Use Crayola School Glue for extra hold. Air-dry the heads at least 24 hours.
2. Make bodies, tails, and other parts for your creatures in the same way. Press a dowel into any parts that attach to the head, twist, and remove the dowel. Add dowels as needed on other parts, too, so you can mix and match them. Air-dry the body parts for 24 hours.
3. With Crayola Scissors, cut off one side of a recycled tissue box. Color the inside with Crayola Markers as the background of your animals’ habitat.
4. Think of things that animals like to hide in, around, and behind, such as trees and rocks. Draw these on a recycled file folder. When you cut them out, leave a small extra tab on the bottom. Shape Model Magic into small mounds that are flat on the bottom. Press the pieces into the mounds. Air-dry them overnight.
5. As a team, assemble animals for your habitat box. Glue pieces in place as needed. Brainstorm names for your beasts and the place where they live. Invent characteristics about each one. Write a story about your creatures’ friends and foes!
Adult supervision is required for any arts & crafts project.
Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough With Small Parts—
WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD—
- Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
- Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
- Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
- If the arts & crafts project involves making small objects, follow the small parts/choking hazards standards: WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD—Small parts. Not for children under 3 years."
- The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
- Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
- Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient. Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic, and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Small Parts— WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD—Small parts. Not for children under 3 years.
Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.
Wood—By its nature, wood is rough and may contain splinters or sharp points
- Make stick puppets to act out stories together.
- Create a series of stories, plays, or chapters about your characters.
- Draw a comic series based on the imaginary animals.
- Make a series of animal sets such as reptiles, birds, sea creatures. Compare/contrast the results.
- Assessment: Students will be successful if they work as a team to create their creatures and habitat. Note whether the creative writing includes creature names, the setting, and a description of the animals’ characteristics and adventures.
Duckling Parade
Slithering Snake
Raven the Trickster Puppet Tales
