No.237
Clothespin Creatures
Japanese name: 洗濯ばさみのいきもの
Materials
- Large clothespins
- Cardboard circles or squares
- Pens
How to play
- An adult supplies cardboard with rounded corners and undamaged clothespins. Try opening and closing one, and agree never to pinch fingers or anyone's body.
- Draw a face or patterns on the card and consider what creature to make. Alternatively, add clothespins first and name the creature after seeing its shape.
- Clip clothespins around the card to suggest legs, ears, a mane or other features. Ask an adult to help open any stiff clips.
- Display finished creatures on a table and introduce them. Ask before touching another person's work, and describe an interesting shape or idea you notice.
- For another round, remove all the clips and exchange materials. You may instead set a challenge about colour order or number of clips. Count and put everything away together at the end.
Ways to adapt
Preschool children: attach a few clips. Younger primary school children: free designs. Older primary school children: limit the number of clips.