Kids Crafts: Paper Mache Dino Bank
I decided to quickly take advantage of the remaining days of holiday to make some Paper Mache Piggy Banks with the kids! They have recently really gotten into their ceramic piggy banks (don’t ask) and are forever playing with them. I thought a paper mache version maybe safer and less likely to break. We love cute Dinosaur Activities for preschoolers!
With paper mache I have two “main tips”: give yourself PLENTY of time. This is not a “do it one day craft”, I would say at the very least two days of crafting, with a week in total: one day for making and one day for painting, with lots of drying in between. For our dinos, which were a little more “ambitious”, we actually had 2 paper mache days and one painting session.
Use our easy peasy guide to how to make paper mache from flour – inexpensive, environmentally friendly and quick!
Secondly: do not rush the drying process – I have seen a number of paper mache failures in the past shared by my readers – where the balloon inside contracts before the mache is fully dry and your perfect sphere, suddenly is all crumpled. My impression, that the main culprit for this is speedy drying – e.g. placing your paper mached balloon on or near a radiator or other heat source. Just hang your creation up and wait a day or two for it to dry gradually. So. Onto our Dinos!!!!!! We actually started off by making Piggys.. but unlike with our Solar System Paper Mache, Red Ted quickly lost interest (just wasn’t one of his days???). So I discussed with him, what he would like to do and how we could “reinvigorate” the piggies for him. And somehow.. we ended up with the idea of Paper Mache Dinosaur Piggy Banks!!!!! Result. I made. They painted. Materials: Homemade paper mache paste, newspapers, balloon, a piece of card (for the triceratops), paint (we used acrylic, but you can use ordinary poster paint and then varnish your creations afterwards) Easy Paper Mache Paste:- 1 part flour, 2 parts water – mix.
- Place in the microwave and blast at full power for 40 seconds. Stir. Repeat. Stir. Repeat etc.. until you have a nice thick paste.
- Try and remove any lumps, they only get in the way later!
And once dry.. let the kids loose on it!! Whoop whoop! They painted in two sessions – first layer. Let it dry and then added spots and stripes.
Ta-da!!!! Finally when all is completely dry, stick on some googly eyes and cut some slits for your money! Isn’t Papier Mache simply amazing? Why not give our papier mache recipe a go. It is so easy and works wonderful. More adorable Dinosaur Crafts for Preschoolers: