Kids Craft: Valentine Cards: Prehistoric Splotch Creatures

Prehistoric creatures is the current interest for the youngest kid. And when he gets interested in something, we all end up getting sucked into it, being easily affected by his enthusiasm and his insistence on having us find the right sort of materials to satisfy his curiosity. Raiding the library, scouring the web, filtering the youtube videos are all legitimate means for accessing information. Not to mention watching BBC's Walking With Beasts and other Walking With... series.

So, when it came to making Valentine cards for his friends, the kid insisted on making something Prehistoric. Not the dinosaurs, no, that's too boring and over-done. But more like the creatures in the late Eocene, Oligocene, Pliocene, Pliestocene eras.

Now, neither him nor I possess the artistic abilities needed to bring the Indricothere and Gastornis and Megalodon and Dorudon and Basilosaurus to life on paper, which posed a hurdle.

So, rather than sticking to known prehistoric creatures, he decided to take some artistic license and make up some of his own.

Coincidentally, I came across Creating Splat Monsters post which reminded me of the "Folded Paper Paint Blobs" the kid loves to do on and off anyway.

The idea is simple:

1. Cut acrylic paper to size for the "valentine card"; have enough of them ready to go 
2. Have about 3 or 4 brightly colored acrylic paints ready to go
3. Place blobs of fairly thick bright colored paints on one piece of acrylic card paper
4. Take another piece of acrylic card paper and place on top of this paint-blobbed paper
5. Smooth out with the hand gently so the paints mingle and spread and go splat!
6. Peel the two papers to reveal mirror-imaged Splat Creatures; allow to dry completely
7. Glue on googly eyes; add limbs, tentacles, fins and any other features as desired with a pen

We used sparkly paints to give that extra brilliance, and kept the card to a nominal size. The kid decided to just glue the funny eyes, no limbs or fins or tentacles this time.

All that was left to do: add the caption to indicate the names of each of the prehistoric creatures. The kid came up with the names on the fly and I faithfully acted as the scribe. Like:

Gastornychus Lyhejnis
Ichthyocascus - a fish-like creature
Brontoseratonia
Xianglongornis
Megatherius
Tylothere
Quetzalpretonia
Telascoropod

Then, simply rubber stamp at the back to mark the occasion, and sign his name. That wrapped up the process.

Two dozen Unique Prehistoric Creatures (No-Evidence-Of-Existence) Valentine Cards ready in no time - especially because the work is actually for 12 cards, with 12 more of them just mirror-images.

"This is so fun, Mama. I want to do more!" made me smile.