woodpeckers I can live with

Here in the woods, the woodpeckers apparently think our house is a tree. One afternoon I actually went to the front door because Magen and I both thought that someone had knocked on the door. Although I love how woodpeckers look, and I’m all in favor of them pecking on trees, they’ve turned into an annoyance because they’re loud and they’re destroying our wood siding.

Schools are closed today for Election Day, so both kids are home with me today. Yesterday I was looking for some creative project ideas that we could work on today, and when I found this paper woodpecker toy, I thought it would be fun to create some woodpeckers that make us happy. (Made By Joel is an amazing blog I discovered recently, written by a father/artist who makes simple, homemade, creative toys and crafts for his four-year-old twins.)

Last night after supper I showed the kids the video of the woodpecker toy we were planning to make today, and Hayden watched it over and over and over.

So this morning I printed out two woodpecker templates from the downloadable image and we got to work. I love that all of the supplies were things we had on hand — photo paper, a drinking straw, rubber bands, and tape. Oh, and a few little plastic beads. After the woodpeckers were complete, I took Joel’s advice and tied beads to each end of the rubber bands so they wouldn’t slip out of the straw.

Magen named her woodpecker “Peckanona.” When she told me the name, I asked her how it was spelled, and she spelled it out for me. (The ‘o’ is a short ‘o.’) Then she explained that it’s just a made-up word, so she can spell it however she wants. “I mean, it’s not a real word like a, an, the, meteorologist, Constantinople…” I love how her mind works!