The Swirly Octopus
We love going to the aquarium and one of kiddo’s favourite creature is the octopus. Kiddo thinks it’s really weird looking in a tank and more so when served on a sushi platter (see previous post of her making sushi), while I like them down raw, chopped and served with wasabi….ok let’s not get too carried away here……
While this is not the only paper cup octopus you’ll find around the web, this is certainly one that loves to swirl and dance around when you pick him up.
What you need are:
- 2 paper cups
- cardboard
- toothpicks / pointy food sticks
- 1 rubber band
- sticky tape
- colour paper
- colouring material
- scissors
Instructions:
- Cut 8 equal parts on 1 of the cup’s sides. Do not cut all the way to the base. Leave about 1-2 cm from the base of the cup.
- Use a chopstick to curl the ‘legs’ of the octopus.
- Cut a piece of cardboard and make a ‘T’ structure by splitting one end into half. Then punch a hole on the other half.
- Make a slit at the bottom of the ‘leggy’ cup and insert the cardboard T through it. Adhere the T from the insides of the cup.
- While the ‘leggy’ cup gets worked on, start kiddo on decorating the body/head of the octopus (the other cup).
- Once she’s done, a slit was made at the bottom of her cup. This is for the ‘tail’ bit. Get kiddo to draw out a tail, colour it and probably help her cut it to shape.
- Here comes the tricky part. Pull a rubber band through the hole on the T piece of cardboard and punch 2 holes near the rim of the body cup.
- Stretch ends of the rubber band through the 2 holes of the body cup and hold each end in place with a toothpick/stick. Adhere the sticks with sticky tape.
- Now decorate the rest of the octopus, e.g. the legs, eyes, body etc……
- & taadaaaaa……the octopus is now complete. The octopus can ‘bounce’ and ‘swirl’ on its legs cos of its rubber band ‘joint’. & O is certainly for Octopus!
