papier mache penguin

Here it is! the papier mache penguin and banner that has taken up weeks to create. alex made this as her visual aid for her report on penguins. this is a model of a fairy penguin (yes, apparantly that is a real kind of penguin - and yes, they are more blue than black.) we started with a tube balloon: didn't fill it the entire way so that it creates that beak with the empty balloon space. we tied twine around the neck area to create a little shape. then alex covered the balloon with newspaper strips soaked in a half glue/half water mix. she cut out a tail and two feet from a cereal box. i attached the feet and the tail after the first layer of newspaper were dry. the feet are glued to the ends of toothpicks which were stuck into the bottom on the dried newspaper. she added another layer of papier mache around the tail and feet and legs. and then she painted the entire penguin herself. i spray fixed it when it was all dry and done. for the banner, we made the posts with paper straws and glued them to cut out thin cardboard. she designed and decorated the banner. now we will see if it makes it to school without getting damaged or tossed into her school bag!