We love the book “A Color of His Own” by Leo Lionni. It is a cute story about a little Chameleon who is sad that since he changes colors according to his surroundings he does not have a color of his own. So he decides to sit on a green leaf forever so that he will always be green. But of course the leaf changes color and so does he.
I love making pipe cleaner animals and decided to make some chameleon pipe cleaner animals and matching leaves and turn it into a color matching activity. I also love doing activities with Benjamin that bring our favorite books to life.
First, loop a green pipe cleaner in half. Remember that the circle part will be the chameleon’s head.
Next, loop one of the halves of the pipe cleaner around the head until it is covered. Coil a second pipe cleaner around a pencil, coiling more loosely in the middle if possible.
Attach the pipe cleaners together and curl the tail. Cut 2 pieces for the legs, bending over the ends for the feet.
Attach the legs. Glue on the googly eyes. Add a long red tongue.
Hide these chameleons around the house for fun.
Take pictures of your chameleons in weird places.
Play with these colorful chameleons as you read “A Color of His Own”. You can also lay out the leaves and then encourage your child to match the different color chameleons to the correct leaves.
Is there any other words than CUTE! AWESOME! FUN? Cause I really need it to put in this post! XOXO PC
What a cute craft! I love projects that tie in to children's books, I really just do! And this is adorable.
Stopping in from WeTeach. Love your blog's 'look' Love the layout. I'm learning from you in your graphic layout.
Two thumbs up for the extension of the picture book, too.
I have a post on my blog of a teacher who extended the artwork I created in my picture book with her 2.5 year olds. I LOVE seeing how people 's-t-r-e-t-c-h' the art in picture books!! KUDOS!!
Here's the link to my post on a what the teacher did with her kiddos: http://rainbowswithinreach.blogspot.com/2011/07/awesome-anniversary-art.html
These are adorable! I'm taking a trip to the craft store for pipe cleaners. My kids are gonna love this. I'm visiting from We Teach and I'm tweeting this post.
LOVE THIS! This has always been a favorite book at our house. Your pipe cleaner animals are darling!!
Hi! Just wanted to let you know that I've featured this post in my round-up of favourite pipecleaner craft activities!
Those chameleons are so adorable!
These are adorable!!!! What a fun and simple idea. I loved this post so much I am featuring it at this week's For the Kids link party at Sun Scholars!
Thanks so much for linking up! Stop by, grab your "A++" button to stick on your blog, and share some more of your fun ideas with us. Thanks for sharing at http://SunScholars.blogspot.com!
These are wonderful! Great post – I'm going to order the book just so we can make the chameleons.
Another great idea….I am passionate about book crafts, and we love this book in our house, so its perfect! Thanks for sharing…here's the link on Craft Gossip
http://lessonplans.craftgossip.com/?p=4674
Wow this is so cool! I love how you show exactly how to make the Chameleons! I also am featuring you on my blog for ideas on how to learn about reptiles!
Happy learning!
-Kate
http://www.myoatmealkisses.com/
Thank you for the fantastic instructions! I saw this somewhere else but with no photos, which made it essentially useless for me. But thanks to you, I was able to make my first chameleon. Thanks so much!
I just used this design as a guideline for a Pascal chameleon (from Disney's Tangled). I also plan to use this for a VBS project. Thank you!
We love these little chameleons and think they would be great for acting out stories about chameleons from children's books!