Crafts: Owl & Mammoth

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

These kits were a gift and the boys and I enjoyed putting them together. They are made of very, very hard cardboard (no glue required) and are very sturdy. The only trick is you have to put things together in order (the slots are marked 1, 2, 3) or things get fiddly.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

They're great - I particularly like the owl.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! The owl cuts an impressive looming figure, I'll admit.

[kingstoken]

That owl is awesome

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thanks! Very sturdy, too!

[luthienberen]

These are fantastic! The precision as you mention, must take some concentration. A fun pastime and I think the mammoth is my favourite x

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, as much concentration as a 5 year old and a 9 year old can muster. It was a lot of fun. The boys like the mammoth, too.

[castiron]

Cool! My kids have done a couple similar things that used wood instead of cardboard -- a butterfly and a dinosaur skeleton.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I liked this cardboard a lot. It was very, very firm. My sons and I are now onto a kit one of them got for Christmas (from National Geographic-Da Vinci's Battalion: a little catapult and two other armaments) which uses balsam wood and I found out the hard way that my mom strength in trying to make things fit will crack the wood, but the paper seemed to give a bit better for some reason. One of mine is 9 and one is 5 so it's difficult to find things where they can both 'help.' I got the older one a DIY robot and that was too hard. It's hit and miss. I never know what they are going to really like and what they are going to turn their nose up at.

[lunabee34]

Oh wow. So cool. *admires*

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Thank you! It's a strange cardboard which is very good for this kind of thing. Maybe better than balsam wood.

[lunabee34]

I bet you could spray paint it if you wanted to, too.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Very true!

[debriswoman]

The owl looks particularly dramatic:-) The sweeping mammoth tusks work well, too.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, the owl is great. And he sits very securely on the stand. I don't know what kind of cardboard it was made from but it really is a marvel of engineering/chemistry/what have you.

Yes, the boys loved both of them. I made Minor study mammoths the day we made it.

[mafief]

Woo, those look fun.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

It was a really good kit. I wish I had a dozen more!

[scfrankles]

I really love the look of the finished models - it kind of provokes the urge to reach out and run my fingers over the sections ^__^ I like the owl the best but both models are such interesting shapes.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

If you did touch it, you would be surprised how sturdy it is both the individual pieces (the cardboard) and the whole ensemble (everything fitted together).

Yes, they were both interesting and the boys and I enjoyed putting them together. I made Minor research mammoths when we did the mammoth.