I can’t remember if anyone else has done this, but we read Cactus Hotel last week. It’s a great nonfiction story of how a cactus is a home to many creatures in the desert. The kids loved reading it and we talked a lot about the different animals. I had all sorts of ideas about how I could make this into a complicated project, but then I finally realized go for simple, and you get it done.
Supplies: card stock (just to make sure the paper is sturdy enough, you could use copy paper); sand paper, crayons; glue, scissors, print out (below)
cactus hotel.doc
(anyone know how to do those cool little mini pictures that Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations does?)
1. Cut cardstock in half (not necessary, but that’s the size we wanted).
2. Cut out a cactus shape from the sandpaper.
3. Color the cactus with crayon (it makes a cool texture).
4. Start cutting out pictures galore. Seriously, you haven’t seen the finished product yet. They went nuts with the pictures.
5. Glue like it’s about to go out of style. Have you noticed the 20 cent bottles of glue right now? Now you know why I buy them like a crazy woman.
Honest it takes two pages of pictures to cover up half a page of artwork. Right?
Can you guess which one is mine?
In order: Batman, Princess, mine, Princess (her second), Superman (he drew in a second cactus).
We had a blast doing this, and it’s going in the lapbook for four states (all of them desert states).
Head on over to
A Mommy’s Adventures to see what other story related projects people are doing.
Very cool! We drew a cactus and painted it with salt paint a while back. That was fun. I have plenty of sandpaper now, so maybe we will try this too!
That's cool! Yeah…we might know which one is yours. 🙂
Super fun! Did Princess cut up a cactus for her second one?
No way, I would have never guessed which one is yours 🙂 I like the project – perfect difficulty level. I will certainly look for this book!
I am CERTAIN that yours is on the green or yellow folder, because who NEEDS to know that these varmints actually LIVE in a cactus? :0)
(This is a wonderful idea!)
You know I keep forgetting about using sandpaper for art projects. That sounds so cool. I like the crayon holder by the way.
I really love that you made one, too!