Birds on a Wire

This project was one of those that evolved directly from the recycling bin. I was about to throw away the cardboard trays my veggies had come home in and I just couldn't they were too perfect for something I just didn't know what yet so I started saving them. (I have slight hoarder tendancies anyone else?)   Anyway the stash of cardboard trays starting adding up and I decided we had to use them. I'd decided that they made perfect frames for some box pictures so I introduced the children to the idea of layering. We talked about how items are in the foreground and the background. In this case the subject was going to be the birds on the wire and the back ground 

You will need:

A food tray or piece of cardboard

Wire

Scissors

Sharpie

Glue

Paint - we chose sunset colors

Bird template PDF

Step 1

Begin by letting your child paint the background - think landscape or sky, we opted for a sunset so I gave them a limited color palette and encouraged them to think about the colors they see at sunset and to blend and mix the colors together just as they do in the sky.

Step 2 

Print out the pdf of the birds (you may need to adjust the print size on your printer to make the birds fit inside whatever cardboard container you are using. Once you have printed out the template have your child color the birds with various black and white patterns - think dots, lines, zentangle  you name it.

Once you have decorated your birds cut them out and glue a piece of wire along the back of the birds - make sure the wire is long enough to run the length of the cardboard. 

Step 3

Once your glue on the back of the birds has dried take each end of the wire and thread or glue it to either side of the cardboard. The birds should float above the background on the wire.

Step 4

All thats left to do now is flip the picture over and glue a hoop onto the top of the picture so that you can hang it up easily on the wall. We used a pipe cleaner for this.

Turn it over and your set.

Enjoy your multi dimensional picture, now I'm thinking what can I do with the other 50 cardboard trays!!