Mermaid off the port bow!

Megan is obsessed highly interested in mermaids right now. So when she saw THESE, she decided that we just had to make them. She wanted to make them for play group when we host, but since they have to be painted, allowed to dry, and then glued, I knew we wouldn't have time. So she and I (with help from two of her friends) did all of the painting a week before play group.

We started by painting the top portion of each wooden clothespin skin colored. This will become the head and torso of the mermaid.

After they dried, we wrapped masking tape around the painted portion, just above where the cut out part begins. This will give you a nice, crisp line between the skin paint and the tail paint.

Let the kids paint the bottom half of the clothespin. Choose a paint color that matches the felt that you have (we chose green and turquoise because that's the felt I had on hand).

Once it's dried, peel off the tape, and the painting is done. Incidentally, we discovered that a shoebox is the perfect thing to hold the clothes pins as they dry.

 

When the girls got here for play group, we started by cutting out the mermaid tails and seashells out of felt using templates. They also used colored Sharpies to draw on the faces (I'm not so good with a paint brush, and Sharpies are like duct tape - you can do just about anything with them, right?).

While I glued the tails and shells on, the girls cut yarn for hair. That got glued on as well (I LOVE my hot glue gun! I may not be able to sew, but I am a super gluer, lol). Finally, the girls each chose a flower decoration to go in her mermaid's hair.

Tada! I think they turned out pretty cute! And they kept the girls busy during play group. And Megan still thinks I'm cool (for a little while, at least).