Dandelion the Book and Paper Plate Craft

I find lots of treasures at yard sales and our most recent was the book, Dandelion by Don Freeman.  I grabbed it for .25 cents AND because who can resist a Don Freeman book!  Since getting this book my daughter has asked me to read it to her before bed every night.

Dandelion is story about a lion who is attending a party but chooses to dress 'dandy' instead of being himself.  This classic story shares an important message to children which is always be who you are.

My 5 year old daughter has enjoyed this book so much that we decided to do a craft to go along with it.  Here's what we made and the materials you'll need to make one yourself!

Materials used:

Paper plate
Tan tempera paint
Orange pipe cleaners
Hot glue gun
Googly eyes
Black foam
Black marker
Ribbon

We started off painting our plate.

Since Dandelion gets a 'wave' in the story we used pipe cleaners as the curls for Dandelion's mane.  Simply take your pipe cleaners and wind them around a marker or pen.  Once all the pipe cleaners were curled, use a hot glue gun to add them on around the plate.  This part is for adults only!

Once the paint is dry on your plate add on:

googly eyes

triangle for the nose

draw on some whiskers

and voila..........Dandelion the Lion!  We added a piece of ribbon to the top of the paper plate and hung him up in our kitchen!

If you haven't read this book it is a must find, truly a classic and loved by all!