It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written a new blog post with a craft and book pairing! I’m blaming a strong case of burnout from life and coronavirus fallout. We’ve all been healthy, but the disruption to our lives has certainly thrown things for a loop. The biggest change is our lives is that I have decided to homeschool for Kindergarten, which means I needed to get back on the crafts and book bandwagon! This fun project was inspired by our art project when we made owls with moveable wings. The book featured in that project has released 2 new titles, so we decided to make an interactive crab craft to go with This is Crab! We hope you have as much fun as we did!
What You Need for Your Crab Craft
- Paper plates (we got some at the dollar store)
- Kid friendly paint (we used washable Crayola neon colors)
- Sponges
- scissors
- glue sticks
- assorted jewels
- pipe cleaners
- googly eyes
- paper fasteners
Time For Some Crab Craft FUN!
We really had SO much fun with this project, because who doesn’t love painting and sparkly gemstones!?! We started in the morning, did a little more after paint dried and then did finishing touches. I started with only a little craft prep, cutting up a paper plate. 1 plate will be kept whole for crab’s body. Cut the second plate in half, then trim a long straight strip from each half to make 2 arms for crab. Trim off the crinkle edges, then cut the semi circle in half, and these will become crab’s claws!
Did I tell you we finally outgrew our learning tower? Devastating, I know!! We could probably still get away with it if we had 2, but they are getting too big to share at over 5 years old! With our kitchen remodel came some new island stools, so we repurposed those for art projects and baking! I poured some of the bright neon paint colors they chose onto an extra paper plate and then they used sponges to sponge paint crab’s body, arms and claws. I think they came out pretty amazing!
After the paint dried, we needed to create and attach crab’s arms. Use a glue stick to glue the pointed ends of your claws together into a claw shape, then glue your claw onto his arm. Repeat for the other arm, then fasten them both to the body with a paper fastener. This will allow crab to wave hello, just like he does in our book!
When we read the book, you’ll see that crab meets a decorator crab. This gave us an opportunity to learn how that type of crab decorates themselves for protection and camouflage. After our crab arms were attached, we decided to use some gemstones to decorate our crabs, using glue sticks to attach them.
The last step was crab’s eyes! For his eyes, we took a pipe cleaner and rolled one end into a circular shape to create the eye socket, and taped the straight end to the top back of our crab. The finishing touch was a googly eye on the eye socket to bring our crab craft to life!
Now we have a beautiful decorator crab that can wave hello! Hello Crab!!
Let’s Read This is Crab!
Now, I already told you that we fell in love with This is Owl last year. When Kane Miller decided to create a series surrounding this wildly popular interactive picture book, my kids jumped up and down with excitement. This is Crab is a fun underwater adventure as crab explores creatures in the ocean!
This book is all about getting kids engaged and participating in the reading process. Wave your arms, tap the book, tickle crab, wiggle the book, and get involved! Your kids will be attentive and listening to find out what they get to do next!
In This is Crab, crab meets a decorator crab, which was our inspiration for a decorated shell on our craft project. Our moving arms on our crab craft were so he could wave hello and goodbye to crab in the book as we read it aloud together.
Involving characters and reading books that contain actions are great tips to keep kids excited about books and reading! Looking for more interactive craft & reading projects? Check out a few of my favorites:
- Shark Craft with Counting Fish
- Make Your Own Monster Craft
- Books & Crafts: Construction Sensory Box
- DIY Calming Star Jars
I hope you enjoyed our craft and book pairing as a part of our homeschool adventure this fall. I can’t wait to bring you more fun activities as we explore learning at home together! If you need to amp up your at home learning supplies, contact me to learn how you can get this book and many more for free! Happy Reading!
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