Effie – Activity #2: "Love Bugs"
Activity 2: “Love Bugs”
This 3-D activity challenges the students’ creative motor skills while connecting them to the characters in the story.
Materials:
- Aluminum foil
- Stiff tag board for the heart shape and wing shape
- Pipe cleaners (various colours) – 3 per student
- White glue
- Paint brushes
- Scissors
- Google eyes or construction paper
- Tissue paper (various colours or patterned tissue paper)
- Tape
Teacher Preparation:
- Cut enough 8 ½” x 11” sheets of aluminum foil for each student (bug body)
- Cut enough 1 ½” x 4” sheets of aluminum foil for each student
- Cut enough 9” x 12” tag board sheets for each student (for the heart shape)
- Cut enough 3” x 3” pieces of tag board for each student (for the wings)
Step by Step:
Step One: Provide each student with the large sheet of aluminum foil and have them crumple the foil in the palms of their hands, crushing it to form into an oblong oval which will be the body of the bug (similar shape to a small potato).
Step Two: Have the students cut three 3” sections from their pipe cleaners.
Step Three: Bend the three pieces of pipe cleaners into deep “M” shapes. Slightly bend the end of each pipe cleaner to form the “feet”.
Step Four: Have the students tape the legs onto the body, with the deep part of the “M” taped under the belly of the bug.
Step Five: Further secure legs in place by gluing the smaller strips of aluminum foil on the belly of the bug to cover where the legs have been taped.
Step Six: Have the students tear several small pieces of tissue paper.
Step Seven: Using a paint brush, brush the Love Bug’s tinfoil body with white glue and adhere the small pieces of tissue paper onto the wet glue. Continue until entire body is covered with at least 2 layers of tissue paper.
Step Eight: For the wings, have the students cut the two small wing shapes from their 3” x 3” piece of tag board.
Step Nine: Coat the wings with white glue and tissue paper.
Step Ten: Students then decorate the wings with stickers, sequins, other shapes, etc. Glue the front ends of the wings onto the top of the body of the bug.
Step Eleven: For the eyes, students may glue google eyes onto their bugs or cut circles from construction paper, then glue smaller circles in the middle.
Step Twelve: To create the large heart, the students are to fold their larger piece of tag board in half. Have them pencil in half a heart with the centre of the heart being at the crease of the fold, making it as large as possible. Cut the half heart and unfold to reveal the full heart.
Step Thirteen: Coat the entire heart with white glue and more torn pieces of tissue paper.
Step Fourteen: Glue the Love Bug’s feet onto the heart.
End Product:
Love Bugs perched upon a colourful heart.
