House for a Mouse
Make a mouse out of clay. Make a nest out of hay and forest floor finds and put the mouse in it.
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Development of fine motor skills making shapes with clay. Using wool or twine to bind the house elements together. Animals in the environment.
Log stumps or boards to provide working surfaces. Golf ball size piece of air-drying clay per child. Hay and forest floor finds. Brown garden twine for tail and tying nest materials and scissors to cut.
- Give out a golf ball of the clay. Mould the clay with hands to soften. What shape is a mouse? How big is it?
- Make the mouse. Demonstrate moulding a mouse shape. It has a pointed face and a narrow body, larger to the rear, a bit like a small carrot. Children make their own mouse shape. Next, pinch up the ears and shape into rounded mouse ears. Use fir tree spines or similar for whiskers. Eyes are made using a thin stick and the hole filled with a dab of black paint. Add a tale made of grey wool or twine.
- Make the nest. Twist a bundle of meadow hay together, mixing with leaves. Shape into a ball. Wrap a couple of turns of twine around the nest to hold it together. Use a finger to make a cavity in the hay ball for the mouse to sleep in. Once the mouse is dry it can be placed into the nest.
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