Last weekend we held an event at the Whales of Iceland Whale Museum making your own upcycled whale decoration for your Christmas tree from reclaimed materials that can be found in your recycling box at home. At the event, our good friends Pláneta had their ocean sensory play boxes and Prinsessur had their Mermaid and Pirate meeting everyone and telling stories about the sea. Nearly 350 people attended and we had so much fun we wanted to share the step-by-step instructions, so you can join us, get ´Whaley´ festive and make Christmas whales too!
Step 1: Creating a Template
To get started sit down and design how your whale decoration would like to look. We want you to get really creative and design something cool! Here are some questions to help you get thinking:
- What kind of whale would you like?
- What size would you like it?
- What colour(s)?
- How will you decorate your whale? Paint, crayons, stamps, glitter?
Here you can get our FREE printouts of The Grumpy Whale colouring sheets if you would like some templates.
Step 2: Finding the Perfect Upcycled Materials
After you have designed the most perfect Christmas whale for your Christmas tree you then need to find the materials you are going to make your whale out of. We are upcycling materials from the recycling box. We have found that breakfast cereal boxes make fabulous bases for your decorations. Do you have any other cardboard or plastic you can cut to make the perfect whales?
Step 3: Make the Base for Your Decoration
In step 3 this is where you are going to cut your whale out and assemble your decoration base. On your upcycled material draw an outline of your whale shape with a pencil and cut two of these shapes out. Take a piece of string or ribbon and fold it in half. Put the loose ends of your ribbon or string in between your two shapes, then use craft PVC glue and stick it all together. This might need to try for a few minutes, so this is the perfect time to take a break for a hot chocolate and gingerbread cookie.
Step 4: Decorate your Upcycle Whale Decoration
When the glue has dried you can now add fins, eyes, colour, your name and any other decoration you can find to make your whale swim. When you have finished this step all that you have left is to pop it on your Christmas tree!
Why make upcycled whales out of recycled materials?
It is important that we try and minimise our waste to help our whale friends. Did you know as much as 20 mil. tons of plastic waste end up in the ocean every year? Plastic is harmful to all marine life, including whales. Whales are not only majestic, beautiful and intelligent they are important for ocean health because when they eat, swim and even poo they move nutrition around the ocean and they even store carbon on their bodies! We need a healthy ocean as it produces 50% of our oxygen. Head to the WWF to find out more.
If you enjoyed this Christmas whale craft we would love to see photos! Please send them to us.
