A life sized paper twin

I wasn’t going to post this, because at the time it seemed way too simple and unoriginal.  Plus, it’s not really a craft.  But after seeing bug’s reaction to making it AND his continued enjoyment of it, I decided to put it up here.

Last week during our Family Night (which we do on Monday right after food fest) we learned about our bodies.  Specifically, we learned that Heavenly Father has given us our bodies as a gift and that we need to take care of them and also that Heavenly Father created us in his image.  BUT I am sharing this idea because even if you don’t go that route, I think this activity would be good for teaching about the body in general - toddlers have fun learning about their eyes and nose and where their fingers are... wouldn’t it be fun to learn about our different body parts with a life sized paper doll twin?

So, before I go into details, I have a few disclaimers.  One - I wasn’t going to post this, right?  So these pictures are BAD.  Bad lighting, badly focused, Bad hair, just plain bad.  Please excuse me.  TWO - no, we don’t usually run around without our pants on.  It just so happened that it has been ridiculously hot and humid, so when a two year old rips his pants off, you pick your battles, right?  Again, I didn’t think I’d be posting this.

OK, without further ado:

You’ll need:

LONG sheet of paper (a little longer than your child is tall)

Sharpie(s)

crayons

tape

A kid (well, you could do this with adults, I suppose, but I don’t think they’d get nearly as big a kick out of it)

So, first, lay down your long sheet of paper on the floor - preferably on a flat, hard surface.

I saved a ton of packing paper after a packing service packed us up and moved us out here (thanks mr’s work!) so I’ve got a lot of that.  I taped two of those pieces together to get a big enough piece.

Lay your toddler on top and pose them any fun way you want to!  We made one of bug’s hands wave hi.

This is when they will start to giggle.  Which is the best part, actually.


Now, take a sharpie and carefully trace around your child.  Try not to color on him, but if he's as wiggly as bug it's easier said than done.  

When you are done, help your child up and the real fun can begin!

Color the outline in with crayons (or markers) making sure to create a duplicate of your child.

I got to draw bug’s curly hair.

Everyone got in on the act - although admittedly mini spent more time chewing on Buzz.

bug made sure we drew a watch, two pockets and sandals.

I’m surprised he didn’t force us to draw a wallet or “Pawster the Monster” - his two imaginary “can’t live withouts”.

Then tape it up where your child will be able to see a lot of it.

bug kept giggling and pointing out different things: “Look, his hair curly!” and “He wearing sandals!”  We made sure to call the life-sized paper twin by his name and he loved that.

This is the real reason I am posting this:

The next morning, bug woke up and upon coming downstairs the first thing he did was run over to his twin and happily say, “Hi, bug!” while waving.  He continues to say hi and goodnight to his paper friend and when we come home from errands or playing he will point and tell everyone, “this is bug!”  

I just love it when he loves it.  You know?