The Fox and the Moon
Welcome to the first ever Brainy Beginnings Network Story Prompt! The idea here is to create the craft and then fill in the blank spaces in the story prompt. This will create a deeper connection to the craft and prompt a higher level of creative processing. Plus, IT'S FUN!! Who doesn't love a fun, sometimes incoherent story?
My intention is to keep the crafts simple (as simple as I am humanly capable of) and the story short (about a page.) This should be a fun exercise! You could opt to just do the story if you like. You could use the pictures on this site to encourage imagination!
Download the
Brainy Story Prompt (BSP) here.
This little fox and moon combo is super easy to make! It hangs on the wall and would look adorable in your kid's room! We used one of BBN's favorite materials to make it! Read more about our love for salt dough here.
Gather:
*Salt dough
(see recipe below)
*Hot glue/gun
*Yellow/Orange paint
*Black or Brown Sharpie
*Parchment paper
*Half cookie sheet
*Mixing bowl
*Spoon
Create:
1. Mix 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and one cup of warm water together in a bowl. Add more flour or water depending on consistency. It should feel like playdough. Separate 1/6 of the dough out. Save for later. Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. This step is personal preference. You can add the paint directly into the dough OR you can paint the dough after it's been cooked and has cooled. There are pros and cons to each way. (More on that subject later!) But for the most part adding the paint into the dough decreases the vibrancy of the paint. But it means that you can use the dough after it bakes and skip the painting process altogether. For this project we went with the paint in the dough process. So, I'll teach you about that one.
Add the desired amount of yellow paint to the large dough ball and orange paint to the smaller dough ball. Mix! Use your fingers! Add a bit more flour to achieve a non sticky dough.
3. Roll out the dough and cut a moon shape from the yellow. Use your woodland cookie cutters to cut a fox from the orange.
4. Use a straw or a hollow round object to place a nail hole in the center top and a hole for a dangling star near the upper point (#flair).
5. Place the dough in the oven for about 3-4 hours. This is a great time to work on your story! (And fold the laundry, write your first and best novel, take a vitamin, so on...)
6. Use your thread to make some pom poms. Find a tutorial for mini pom poms here.
7. After the dough is cool, thread a pom pom through the hole near the upper point. Use hot glue to affix the fox and other poms as desired. Use the sharpie to draw on the fox's features. If your dough is a bit too dull looking you can add Mod Podge to it. It should bring up the color and shine.
What do you think? Please let let me know! Tag your Brainy Story Prompts on social media with#brainystoryprompt so the Brainy Beginnings Pack can see them!