Happy Birthday Eric Carle Week: Art w/A House for a Hermit Crab + linky

Eric Carle is widely known for his popular children's books. His unique artistic styling make his illustrations one of a kind. His engaging stories are read over and over again, until both parents and children know them by heart. His books have been translated into over 50 languages and sol hundreds of millions of copies worldwide.

It is only fitting that since his birthday is on June 25th, we are devoting this week to reading, exploring, crafting and learning with some of the books we have not had the pleasure of reading yet! At first, I was shocked at how many of his books we have not read. Yet, it's not that hard to believe when you think about the fact that Eric Carle has illustrated more than 70 books! (according to Wikipedia)

Now, onto the fun stuff! For our first "new to us" Eric Carle book we read:



This book is full of so many things you can explore with your child - sea creatures (there's even a glossary in back), months of the year, friendship and of course hermit crabs to name a few.

After we read the story I told the Lil Divas they were going to get to decorate their own hermit crab shell, like the hermit crab did in the story. I pulled out all kinds of fun materials like glitter, sequins, jewels, stickers and pom poms and let them decorate!

Craft: Decorate a Hermit Crab Shell

What You Need:
1. blue posterboard
2. brown and green paint
3. sponges for painting ( I cut up a kitchen sponge)
4. hermit crab template (from Best Kids Books Site)
5. crayons
6. glue
7. wiggly eyes
8. decorations (sequins, stickers, pom poms, etc)

What To Do:
1. On the blue poster board use a sponge dipped in brown paint to make an ocean sandy floor

2. Use a sponge dipped in green paint to create a sea weed background

3. cut out the shell outline

4. decorate as desired

Now you have a designer shell for your hermit crab!

5. Color Crab red and cut out.
6.Glue crab onto shell
7. Glue crab & shell to background paper

What a lovely piece of artwork! This must be proudly displayed!

Are you working on Eric Carle related activities? I'd love to see - link up your posts below if you'd like to share. To check out more of our Eric Carle related activities click here ---> Eric Carle Theme

Bern
Linking to STart, Sharing Time,  Get Crafty,  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday,  Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday  , Fun for Kids Friday , It's Playtime , Made by Little Hands Monday,  Creative Juice Thursday and Monday Playdate.