The Gruffalo!

A couple of weeks ago, the lovely team at Hardie Grant sent me two lovely books - Kids' Crafternoon Sewing and Kids' Crafternoon Papercraft. I must admit, I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to sit down and really go through the book word for word. I did however flip through it's beautifully coloured pages and a project that caught my eye was the cereal box monster pinata. It looked so fun and so cute, something that's really achievable for a 7 year old. So I thought it'll be nice to get some kids together to try making it! And I did just that! But as you know, I'm always the sort to improvise, change it up a little and make it my own. I thought why not make a gruffalo?!

I'll let you in on a secret. I've been a bit addicted to the story of The Gruffalo ever since one of my home art class kiddo's mum told me about it. I went and got the book. So funny and I keep walking around the house, repeating some bits of the story. ‎" A Gruffalo? What's a Gruffalo? " " A Gruffalo! Why, didn't you know? " ...." he has knobbly knees and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose! " Best book ever! Oh and I've even changed my boring mac wallpaper to a nice brown one with a gruffalo in the middle. Oops!

Anyway, back to our cereal box gruffalo. Well, I didn't quite end up getting a bunch of 7 year olds. Instead, I tested the project out with super-cute Milo and Frankie. They're both 3 ish 4.. So turns out I did most of the work, and they just kept laughing while sticking bits of eyeballs and noses, ears and teeth. They were simply amused by how funny their cereal box gruffalo looked. Well, I think they look funny too. I made one and it's now sitting next to my window. Makes me smile whenever I look at it!

This whole experience just goes to show how Kids craft books can still work for really young kids/toddlers. Not all projects will work of course, but with a bit of improvisation and simplifying, they'll work just fine too!