When we first moved into our Texas house, I asked Myla (who was 3 years old at the time) what she wanted her new room to look like.  All she said was “green and pink dinosaurs.”  So that’s what we did.  And although her room has changed a little over the years (mostly, getting filled to capacity with stuffed animals and art projects), the little hanging pteranadon I made from cardboard still hangs in the corner by her bed.

On weekends, we do a lot of art projects, so recently, Myla and I decided to make our own hanging fliers.  I had a sheet of foam core (but cardboard works too), tape, markers, and an xacto blade.  And aside from a bit of string, that’s pretty much all you need.

We started by drawing our creatures onto the foam core with pen.  The wings took a little help, as I was planning on having them slide through a slot in its upper back.  If you’re not up for that, you can just do half a wing, flip it over, and trace the other side, and just tape it to the body.  But not a lot of precision is required, really.

I took on the Xacto cutting myself, as I really didn’t feel like taking Myla to the E.R. for slicing her little kid-fingers off (keeping in mind that I might risk doing the same to my adult-fingers–I am quite clumsy).  Once the creature was cut out, I gave it to her to draw on the other side, so her creature would be visible from all angles.

While she decorated the back side of her dragon, I hurriedly cut out the mockingbird I’d drawn, and hastily colored the flip side of mine (because she is a kid and works three times as fast as I do).

Next, we put their wings through the slots, and taped them down.  BOOM–our own creature fliers!

Here’s my finished chubby mockingbird, which I can then tape a piece of string to and hang from wherever I like.

And here it is with Myla’s dragon…

You can also make little fliers on a much smaller scale…While digging through old blog photos, I found this little project from ages ago, where we had made tiny palm-sized fliers one weekend, just using cardstock, scissors, and tape.

So there you go!  If you’re looking for a quick & easy project to do with the kid (or to do for your own room), they’re fun and don’t require a big supply list.  You could even use old box cardboard from the recycling bin (which is what I did with the pteranadon).

So play around and see what you come up with!  And if you do, please show me on our Facebook page!