A Parrot for a Pirate

It was a Pirate themed week in daycare last week and Friday was dress-up day. Daisy demanded a parrot. After a little discussion on whether she wanted a pirate or a parrot, we decided to make a parrot for her shoulder.

Art for Kids has a great video on how to make a parrot and we gave it a go, the lady explaining is entertaining to watch!

You need:

• Card with outline marked for parrot and tail feathers
• Scissors
• Red construction paper
• White eyes cut out
• Black eyes cut out
• Clothes Pegs
• Feathers
• Glue
• Stapler

Cut out card parrot.

Daisy tried out our squeeze scissors and found them much easier to use than regular scissors. I had noticed she was struggling with cutting anything other than paper. With the squeeze scissors, she was able to cut through the construction paper with no problems. I hope Daisy will continue to gain confidence with the squeeze scissors and I will move her back to regular scissors before she starts kindergarten in a year’s time.

With the glue, add eyes and a beak. Bending the card will make the beak sit out from the face.

Make a series of cuts on a strip of the red construction paper, being careful not to cut all the way through. We practiced this a few times as Daisy kept cutting all the way through the card.  The first few attempts will go into the collage tray for future art projects!

Curl the head feathers with the edge of the scissors or a pencil. Daisy tried this and found it frustratingly difficult. I helped. Staple the head feathers onto the top of the parrot.

Cut the tail free and add a tail extension to make a longer tail. It helps the parrot to balance when on your shoulder.

Now feather your parrot up.

Rose woke up at this point and as you can tell from the pictures she had a wonderful time throwing the feathers everywhere!

Daisy had to try the parrot before bed:

For the rest of the costume, we hunted through the dress-up box and found little for inspiration. We turned to the Peter Pan movie instead. I can always count on Disney for inspiration. A red t-shirt, denim shorts, bandana, gold necklace and sash worked well. We made an eye patch out of black construction paper and a hairband. The sword was made from recycled construction paper and reinforced with duct-tape.

Arrr!