Rainy Day Fun: Papertoy Monsters

A while back my youngest boy found this book at the library and brought it home.

It was all sparkly-new, which is why I didn't realize until I got home that you are supposed to punch out the pages and glue the pieces together.  Whoops!  I didn't think the library would appreciate us
doing that, so we copied a few pages on card stock to see how it worked.  I know, I know, major copy write infringement there, but no worries; we promptly returned the book to the library before my 3-year-old could do any damage and ordered the book online for ourselves.

It is way fun!  And it's a great way to spend a lazy afternoon.

The inside pages look like this, and they are perforated so you can punch out all the pieces.

Once the pieces are punched out and folded, you have all these great little body parts.

Now for my best tip:  If you want these guys to stay together, you really need a glue gun.  It would be nearly impossible to hold some of these little pieces together while any other glue dried, and a glue stick just won't cut it!  

But, you may be thinking, isn't this supposed to be a child's craft?  Why yes it is.  Which leads me to my next great tip:

A Cool Shot glue gun!

I love this thing.  It uses special glue sticks that melt at a low temperature, so it doesn't get hot.  Seriously.  

I squirted some straight out on my finger and it's barely warm.

And it's small, so it fits well in a kid's hand.

Now of course I wouldn't give this to a toddler.  Not unless you like glue stringies all over your kitchen.  But my 8- and 10-year old kiddos do great with it.  My 5-year old can glue big things with the glue gun, but doesn't have the manual dexterity to do a project like this.  So plan on lots of parental involvement with little ones (and likely some parental involvement even with older kids), but you'll have fun.  It's very satisfying when all the parts fit together.

The glue from the Cool Shot does harden up faster because it's cooler, so work on small sections at a time.

Okay, now moving on....

Glue where indicated, and you have a dapper little monster.

 This little guy is Wolfman Joe.

Isn't he great?

  

Rooooooaaaaarrrrr!!!

Another tip:  Do NOT start with Wolfman Joe.  He was pretty hard.  See that snout?  Yeah...it took me a while.  Go for something a bit easier at first.

Like Frankie!

There are plenty of girly monsters too, and they hold up pretty well.

The book is called Papertoy Monsters by Brian Castleforte.  I usually don't advertise for a particular product like this, but I so appreciate learning about great craft projects for older boys (and girls who don't like to do "girly" things), and they tend to be harder to find.  So if you're in the same boat I am, check this out!