If your kids love Elmer, then this craft is a must-try because it is super-easy and also turns exactly like the one in the book.
Elmer, the patchwork elephant is one of our favorite characters. We have read around 10 Elmar books so far and we always get one or two new titles every time we visit the library.
For those unfamiliar with the Elmar books, these are a great read for preschoolers. Written by David Mcknee, there are 30+ Elmar titles to read. The pages have vibrant illustrations with just a few sentences on each page.
Here is a brief of the first Elmer book, 1989.
“Elmer is a colorful patchwork elephant and he wishes he was the same as the other grey elephants in the herd. So he sets off to make himself a grey elephant. He succeeds with his wish but he realizes that it is okay to be different and people love you for who you are.”
A lovely book to teach that our differences make us special! Likewise, each Elmar book has a moral message for the little ones.
As we are planning to read the rest of the books, we thought making an Elmer cutout would be great for the storytelling sessions.
Things needed :
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- Cardboard sheet
- Cutter | Cutting mat
- Colour papers in all colors ( because Elmar is very colorful)
- Glue stick
- Googly Eyes
Preparation time: 15 mins
Activity time: 20 – 30 mins
Begin by drawing an elephant figure on a piece of cardboard. Then place the cardboard sheet over the cutting mat and cut the figure out using a cutter.
Next, we need to cut out square pieces 2cm x 2cm in different colours. We had cut 8 different colours.
The preparations are done and it is time to start the activity with our little one.
Kids can apply the paper glue and place the colourful patches in place. This can be done by toddlers themselves with little help from us.
Here is what makes the activity interesting. Kids have to make sure that adjacent patches are always in different colours. My daughter loved to choose colour accordingly.
Once the cutout is complete with the cour patches, cut out the extras with the scissor. Finally, place a big google eye.
And this is how it looks.
I love it so much as we made it together❤
These Elmer books have another Black and white elephant called Wilbur. We are gonna try that next if my little one shows interest.
Have fun making your patchwork elephant!
Here are a few more elephant-related activities that you can try with your kids
An elephant maze
5 elephant worksheets for preschoolers
Looking for Elmer collections?? Check this out
