newspaper, tape, flour, water, salt, paint

We are learning about pirates and Picasso right now. They seem unrelated, and they are, but Picasso did wear black and white striped sailor shirts. The kids love to mash-up subjects. We are also learning about cheese but more about that later. We have checked out more than one book entirely about women pirates. I knew nothing about pirates before now, this has been fascinating for me.

We were making paper mache figureheads (inspired by the ones on pirate ships) and they quickly morphed into something else while we were sculpting. I was working on a mermaid, but after the 2nd and 3rd child started sculpting the balls of newspaper and tape they realized theirs looked more like an elephant and a koala. Picasso re-enters here. My eldest child also made a mermaid, that is still unpainted because she left the activity to get back to her reading, which is the norm around here.

I could make paper mache sculpture and paint it all day long. I haven't felt this specific compulsion since painting rocks. It's the perfect craft blend for me—easy and cheap materials, fun to execute, endless possibilities, and in no way utilitarian.

There was no prep here, I just grabbed newspaper from the table and some tape and started sculpting.

How we made the the forms-

• We took balls of newspaper and crunched and shaped them, securing at various points with masking tape. Some people used more tape than others. We added appendages with more newspaper shapes and tape, or in the case of the elephants ears—thin cardboard taped on.

Then we mixed up paper mache paste-

• 1 cup flour
• 1-1 1/12 cup water
• 1 tbl salt

Mixed forever until it made a thickish paste, not too thin, but not too thick. I'd say about pancake batter consistency. We then cut thin strips of newspaper and wrapped the dipped strips around the shapes, covering the whole thing. This took 24 hours to dry. Then we painted with acrylic paints, I might use a gloss coat on mine, but the other girls insisted on a matte finish.

How am I not going to make huge indoor mushrooms now?