We are so excited to be sponsored by Disney-Hyperion for the #ReadMo Ambassador program! Mo Willems is one of our favorite authors of children’s books. Not only are Mo Willems books fun for my kids, but my husband and I get a kick out of them as well. My mom was visiting once and I had her read one of the Mo Willems books we own, and she giggled throughout the entire thing. We just love the funny characters.
How exciting that the fun continues outside of the books, especially in the new We Are in an ART-ivity Book! Elephant & Piggie are joined by a new face too: Art Vaark. Art the aardvark introduces Elephant, Piggie (and kids) to an incredible span of artistic styles: a “banana” still life; a color-by-number Piggie “Scream” painting; a scrap-paper collage (for which you earn an official “Collage Diploma”); and so much more.
Created by the same team behind Don’t Let the Pigeon Finish This Activity Book!, this fun-filled, hands-on book features an interactive narrative that invites kids into an exciting, original Elephant & Piggie adventure!
My kids were seriously SO excited when I told them we were going to receive a couple fun packages with Mo Willems merchandise in them!
They were not disappointed! Each of my kids, especially my 4, 9, and 12 year old, were so excited to look through the book. My daughter (age 9) has been the most excited about the book. She read and looked through every page of it the first chance she had, and it made her laugh out loud multiple times.
In the book, there are step by step instructions on how to draw Elephant and Piggie. I thought shrinky dink keychains would be great to try this on! So that’s what we did. My kids loved it!
What you’ll need (affiliate links below):
- We Are in an ART-ivity Book! by Mo Willems
- Keychains
- Shrinky Dinks
- Hole Punch
- Scissors
- Permanent Markers
- Cookie Sheet and Oven
We cut one of the shrinky dink paper sheets in half. Because it’s clear, it made it so easy for them to use the “head, body, legs” page while drawing. If your child is a perfectionist, they can trace piggie and elephant as well.
Oh my goodness, SO cute.
Cut around the image (9 year old wanted just a “lazy” cut around her Piggie, and my 12 year old cut his out completely.
Punch a hole with a standard size hole punch. When they shrink, it is supposed to be the right size for the keychain, but a couple of ours had trouble fitting initially. I suggest punching a hole, moving the punch over a touch to another side and punching again to make the hole a little larger.
They each wanted to do their own of both Elephant and Piggie so we started again with another sheet.
Once they’ve been cut out and the hole punched, lay them on a cookie sheet and place in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 1-3 minutes. We used the full 3 minutes and maybe a touch longer. They do curl up like crazy! But then they relax and you can use an oven mitt to push down the parts that may be curled still. Let cool and flatten. Loop the keychain through and you’ve got yourself a pretty darn adorable keychain. My daughter put her two on her backpack this morning after making them last night.
I’ve added this book on my wishlist to have on hand for gifts!
Make sure to visit the Official Website
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Aimee Aimee
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Thank you for a great explanation. I was looking online for a similar idea and really appreciate it