Toddler Tuesday: Monkey Business

I love making things with paper! Being a teacher, I get lots of chances to get my creative juices flowing to make all kinds of wacky creations. Each semester, I make a decoration for each of my kiddos with their name, birthday and their parent's names and put them all up on a bulletin board for them to see!

Since I have been doing this for the past 10 years (and I can't do the same idea twice....what would Martha Stewart say....), it sometimes gets a little tricky to come up with new ideas. But one morning as I was eating breakfast (a banana i think) and doing some brainstorming, it came to me....SOCK MONKEYS!

I started this little adventure by searching the internets for a clip art pic that I could use as a template:

Then I blew it up on a copier to get just the right size and cut out each piece on tag board (sturdier paper is better for tracing). Next, I laid them all out to make sure they fit together:

I like to layer pieces on top of each other to give a little depth, so I traced out the whole body and then also the individual pieces to lay overtop. After making a trip to Archivers to find just the right paper, I traced all the pieces out and then started cutting away Edward Scissorhands style:

Whew....that took awhile and I think I may have a few blisters on my fingers! Now comes the fun part...I am a big fan of the scrapbooking tape roller thingys that you can quickly add adhesive so I busted that out and started piecing my monkeys together:

He he he....these little dudes are hilarious. I couldn't wait to finish them up:

Mission accomplished! Now it was time to get them all up and wait for the first day of school to start! I was so excited for all my little toddler friends to see their new board! Right away, my first kiddo noticed and exclaimed, "Monkey!"

Now, you maybe don't have 18 kids to make paper decorations for each semester, but you probably DO have at least 1 little friend who would love some paper art made by you...just for them! Kids love anything that has their name on it and a little decoration like this could be a great way to personalize a bedroom door or wall! Plus, you get to have your very own mini craft time....take a moment to reconnect with your childhood self and make some wacky art!! It's fun!