Paper Projects -

How to Make a Paper Bird!

A Paper Project by Inspire(d) Media/Aryn Henning Nichols

These paper chicks are a fun spring project for the young and young-at-heart!

Supplies:
Construction paper or card stock in whatever colors you want for body, beak, and eyes (scraps work well, but make sure you have at least one piece that is 10-11 inches long)
Glue stick
Scissors
Sharpie or black pen or marker
Ruler
Pencil
Toilet paper roll or other similarly round object (for tracing)

1. Mark an inch-wide strip along the long side of the paper with your pencil. Cut. Repeat to get a second strip.

2. To create the body, roll first strip and glue at the bottom, leaving roughly three inches at end for start of tail.

3. Cut second strip in half. Roll and glue at bottom to create head.

4. Glue head to body…you can position further up the body so the chick is looking up, or down if you’d like it to be pecking the ground!

5. Mark a 2-inch by 3/4-inch strip on your beak paper (mine’s traditional orange, but do what you want to make it your own!). Cut.

6. Fold your cut piece in half and trim the corners, making the middle attached part the small side.

7. Fold in the bottom sides so there is a little lip to attach glue.

8. Glue the beak to the head wherever you’d like the beak positioned. Little fingers are handy here – I find securing the bottom, then the top is easiest.

9. Cut the remaining half strip of paper (mine’s yellow) in half again. Then cut in “feathers” – just snip your scissors into the strip multiple times, the long way, leaving some space for glue at one end. Snip into the bird’s current tail as well.

10. Glue feathers to tail and then curl with your pencil (if desired).

11. Use something circular to draw a circle on your paper for the wings (I used a candle holder, but a spice jar or toilet paper roll would work well). Cut out, then cut in half.

12. Like the tail feathers, snip your scissors into the rounded sides to create wing “feathers”. Fluff up if you’d like.

13. Glue, slightly overlapping, to the body.

14. Cut two small circle for eyes (I used white paper, but you can certainly have colored eyes!). The Sharpie works well to trace. Cut out, then mark the pupil (black part) with a marker or pen.

15. Glue eyes to body, and then you’re done! Happy Spring! If you’d like to share a photo of YOUR spring chick, please tag @Inspire(d) Media on Facebook (and like us at facebook.com/iloveinspired). Thanks for making our Spring 2012 Paper Project!