Arctic Float

My son's preschool wanted an Arctic theme for this year's parade so I turned to Pinterest for ideas.  After brainstorming with the co-vice president, Tara, we decided an igloo made from gallon milk jug containers would be the focal feature on the float.  Our hope was to reuse the igloo in the dramatic play classroom after the parade. I found a helpful site http://www.squidoo.com/milk-jug-igloo  which contains a how-to-video.  Our igloo is 6ft in diameter and about 4ft high.  Three to four preschool children could play in the completed igloo comfortable.  The most time consuming task of the project was cleaning and drying milk jugs.  It is best to do this as the jugs come in, otherwise they will have a nasty stench later.  Also, make sure the hot glue is set and secure before building another layer.  Rushed for time, I did not do this at the top and it started to cave.

The preschool children contributed penguin artwork they made using the template from http://www.craftjr.com/preschool-christmas-crafts-paper-plate-penguin/   Honestly, they were my favorite part of the entire float.  The kids also helped form icicles from tin foil http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3521/3242155370_8be8cbd2d1.jpg  for the skirt of the float.  The icicles really added sparkle!  They transformed coffee filters into snowflakes with scissors and glitter.  After they dried, we laminated the snow flakes just in case it rained.

I took a paper craft template for an Orca Killer Whale http://papercraftprintable.com/killer-whale-papercraft-template/  and placed a 1"x1" grid over top.  I then drew with colored chalk a 1'x1' grid onto 5' x 7' piece of 1/4" think foam that I bought from a local scrap shop.  Using a different colored chalk, I sketched the whale print out using the grids as a reference onto the foam.  When I was happy that the proportions were accurate, I cut out the pieces with a  utility knife and glued everything together with hot glue.  I kept the tabs as shown in the paper craft template for security.  As I worked, I used wood clothes pins to hold foam together as I glued. I found making the smaller paper craft version before building the foam version helped me understand where to cut and how the shape formed.

I had also picked up a 5'x10' roll of black "filter material" while I was at the scrap shop.  I have no idea what type of filter material it is, it is about 1/4" thick, stretchy and kinda like a plastic sponge.  I liked that it had a bit of shimmer and added texture to the whale.  At first, I was going to glue the black filter material onto the foam.  But I had an epiphany and  decided to see if I could sew it together. Yahoo!! As long as I kept the foot up on my machine, it sewed perfectly.  So, I added a 3/4" seam allowance to the paper craft pattern, cut and began sew leaving the belly open.  Putting the material over the foam body took some twisting and pulling, thankfully the material was stretchy and the foam was flexible.

I drew the outline of a walrus a piece of 5'x5' foam and covered it with crumpled paper bags.  I got the leather technique from http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/2011/05/brown-paper-bag-faux-leather-decoupage.html#  My 4-year-old son had a blast crumpling the bags into balls then helping me glue them to the foam with a home made mod podge http://www.babblingsandmore.com/2011/10/homemade-mod-podge.html Hint: you will need lots of mod podge.   The edges were tricky too.  I found wrapping around about 1" and gluing with straight Elmer's glue (not mod podge) worked best. After the "leather" dried, I used oil and acrylic paint to define the body. Since "Wally", my kids named the walrus,  would be seen from both front and back,  I choose to do the face on a separate piece of foam and hot glue to body.  This hid the tops of the tusks (made form scrap foam) and added a little dimension.  I used white zip-ties hot glued to the face as whiskers.

The back panels were beautifully painted by Kelly, a local artist and Co-op member.  Tara created the sweetest penguin costumes for the kids out of foam visors - really too cute!

The float looked amazing (if I don't say so myself) and won the 1st Place Blue Ribbon!! Many thanks to fellow Co-op members and friends who donated materials, time and resources...you know who you are!! Congratulations to everyone who worked together to make it happen!