Dino-Mania

We spent this weekend working on Madison's Dinosaur Project. (Thank goodness we had no other plans!) We've had a not-so-great track record with at-home projects so far in "our" elementary career with me having a very kid-centered philosophy of school work, but we threw ourselves into this one 150%.

We started with some internet how-to research, and then went shopping for every possible art supply that would help us MAKE a dinosaur model and habitat. Todd guided the assembling portion of the dinosaur. Newspaper, masking tape, and paper mache...that's how we started.

I helped with the paper mache and plastering of the model (& volcano we decided to add to the background). Madison was super skeptical about the entire process. She had been adamant about using only clay. Since wal-mart's clay section was completely picked over, we had to problem solve a different solution, and convince Madison that the paper mache would be super cool and MESSY-which would of course be the best part. This afternoon we started the painting extravaganza. You can see Thaine in the background of this pic working on his Thomas Edison project-it was a studious weekend at the Scroggins' household!It was finally time to paint the official dinosaur. We weren't sure how to get started, so we gathered up all the dinos in the house to use as a guide. Our finished product was a combination of all said dinos. We also kept running out of paint colors, so had to improvise with the patterns.
I have to admit, I was a little bossy on where to put which color, and even picked up the paintbrush a time or two (or fifty) to speed the process along. Finally, we put the scene together. This was Madison's favorite part. We managed to fit in that clay she was dying to use, and made some pebbles and trees. She did admit that the paper mache was pretty dern fun though, and even said she was glad I talked her into it. :)

Drumroll please....The finished product!! I'm so glad it's over (only have 2 more dinos to look forward to making with Tanner and Grady! Yay memories!). Madison feels much better about this project than a previous boat project in first grade that we won't discuss at this time. I'd like to hope she's begun the lesson of "trying her best"...but ya, this time she might have had a side lesson in parental guidance in project making...against my own wishes.