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Florida: alligators

October 31, 2012 Ticia 10 Comments

make an alligator toy

One of the fascinating things about Florida is its wide variety of wildlife.  I found a wonderful book about alligators, and so that became our major animal for Florida for this time around.

Alligator Mike is the story of a boy who falls in the sewers of New York to find hundreds of alligators that miss their native home of Florida.  So he figures out how to help them get back there.

 

After reading the book we first talked about why it’s a bad idea to have a wild animal as a pet.

 

Then we got down to our art project.  After all, what’s the fun in reading a book if you don’t have an activity to go with it?

 

draw an alligator to cut out

First step we drew the alligator body to cut out.  I gave them some general instructions.  “Draw a large J, then curve around the J, when you get towards the end of your J draw a half circle.”  It makes more sense if you see it step by step.

 

cut out the alligator

Then we carefully cut out the body.  After that we cut out two legs.  I said just cut out an oval and then make claws at the end of one.  Princess of course had to make it her own way.

 

We also cut out one long thin oval for the jaw.

 

I don’t know where she gets her stubbornness from…..  I’m going to blame it on Uncle Sean, he’s a good person to blame things on.

 

punch holes for the legs and jaw

Next punch holes for the legs and jaw.  Carefully do this, if you’re too high it looks weird, but if you’re too low then it’ll break easily.

 

Glue a wiggly eye on and your ready to play with your alligator.

paper alligator attack

Alligator Attack!  AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

toy alligator ride

Or your alligator could be used as a ride for your Strawberry Shortcake doll……….

Linking up over at:

Shibley Smiles

Highhill Homeschool


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and Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk
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arts and crafts, science swimming creatures, zoology

Comments

  1. Debbie says

    October 31, 2012 at 9:28 am

    Cute Alligator!

    Reply
  2. Julie says

    October 31, 2012 at 10:16 am

    Very cute. I would love for you to add this and some of your other great ideas to my weekly Mom’s Library Link-Up.
    https://heymommychocolatemilk.blogspot.com/2012/10/moms-library-link-up-3-for-me.html

    Thanks and be blessed,
    Julie

    Reply
  3. Janelle @ Brimful Curiosities says

    October 31, 2012 at 11:34 am

    Bet those NY alligators are really missing their Florida home just now. The sewers must be a mess after the latest weather! Speaking of alligators, I’m sure my kids would want to continue their learning with the Where’s My Water? mobile game. Fits right in with this theme.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      October 31, 2012 at 11:36 am

      I’m sure they are. I loved the author’s blurb at the back talking about people taking alligators as pets.
      I’ll check if my library has it.

  4. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    November 1, 2012 at 10:23 pm

    I think the stubbornness is a third child thing. I thought I was stubborn, but Lily can out-stubborn me any day.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      November 2, 2012 at 8:05 am

      It amazes me how stubborn she is. A friend of mine has a theory that third kids are also the hoarders because her third child and mine are both the ones that sneak food and hoard things in their rooms.

  5. JDaniel4's Mom says

    November 2, 2012 at 10:17 am

    The gators are adorable! Thank you for linking this post to Read.Explore.Learn. I am going to share in on the Read.Explore.Learn. Facebook page today.

    Reply
  6. Julie says

    November 2, 2012 at 3:10 pm

    I like the way you had them create alligators by drawing the letter J. That would be a great activity for kids learning their letters.

    Reply
  7. Natalie says

    November 2, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    Love it – Princess cracks me up 🙂

    Reply
  8. Jill says

    November 3, 2012 at 4:50 pm

    Boy oh boy we should never get our daughter’s in the same room or are we ever in trouble, LOL! It looks like everyone had a great time. I always love seeing storybooks with a craft. Thanks for linking up this week to my Enchanted Thursdays Blog Hop!

    Reply

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Ticia Adventures in Mommydom Hi, I'm Ticia! This is the adventures of my family in life and learning. Follow along with us as we share our adventures. We're having a lot of fun and learning as we go.

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