Are your kids as obsessed with Elephant & Piggie as mine are? All of our boys from ages 2 through 8 get a kick out of these cute characters so we were thrilled when we heard about the Elephant & Piggie Like Reading series! We're partnering with Disney Book Group to create a pig footprint craft to celebrate the release of the latest book in the series.
Disney sent us the new book plus a ton of fun props and craft supplies to get our creative wheels turning. In the book Harold & Hog Pretend for Real by author/illustrator Dan Santat, two best friends pretend to be Elephant and Piggie! Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! is an early-reader series created and coedited by Mo Willems and it has been an awesome way to get our kids into books, as it really helps kids engage with the idea of reading. Two of our little dudes read the book and decided to play pretend, too, using some cardstock cutout glasses to be Harold the elephant and a cute little piggie prop nose to be Piggie, just like Harold and Hog.
We were also inspired to create our pig footprint craft as a sweet piece of art to commemorate the kids' favorite current book! This is such an easy project to do with kids, requiring just a piece of paper, a black pen and some pink paint.
First, learn how to draw a Pig
The first step in creating our pig footprint craft is to learn how to draw a pig. I like practicing this on separate sheets of paper before applying it to our pig footprint craft. It's also a really fun way for kids to make their own creation. Footprint crafts can sometimes have lag time while you're printing all the feet and drying the paint, and this is a good way to keep kids occupied.
I saw an easy tutorial for how to draw Piggie on the Thank-o-Rama website. Thank-o-Rama is an initiative to use Mo Willems' books to spread thankfulness throughout communities during the month of May, stemming from the final book in the Elephant & Piggie series, The Thank You Book! How sweet is that?
These “draw this shape and then that shape to make a piece of artwork” tutorials work really well with kids. It always makes me crack up to see how theirs turn out. I'll admit that my kids' interpretations of Piggie took a few creative liberties. They're definitely VERY original, and not derivative at all!
Now turn it into a pig footprint craft
Once you have the Piggie face mastered, the rest is easy! Just create a footprint with pink paint, and add your Piggie face once it's dried.
In the spirit of Elephant & Piggie’s Thank-o-Rama, I asked my kids what they're thankful for, and they said they were thankful for “friends.” Awww. And how cute is this custom chalk from Twee? Pretty sure I know who we'll be turning to for birthday party favors from now on.
Click here to get your own copy of Harold & Hog Pretend for Real, and check out the Thank-o-Rama website for all sorts of activities to help the books come to life with your kids.
What crafts do you do to bring stories to life? Would you make a pig footprint craft?