Make a (quick) homemade kids’ footprint Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday card.
This was entirely JJ’s idea. She’d been invited to a Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle themed 5th birthday party, and was quite excited. You see, she hadn’t really had been exposed to the whole TMNT thing yet, and was so intrigued about the whole ninja side of it. And they wear masks. And they’re turtles. Cool…
Then, about an hour before the party was supposed to start, she declared that she wanted to make the birthday boy a homemade card, it had to feature her footprint, and it had to be TMNT themed. Argh, talk about pressure! So I quickly googled, and was shocked that I couldn’t find anything – so we improvised. Quickly.
Step 1: Paint on foot. Check.
Step 2: Press foot down on a blank card, and the put the card in the microwave for fast drying. (I’ve never actually considered this before, but it worked really well! Otherwise we would never have gotten this card made in time.)
Step 3: JJ painted the coloured masks with cotton buds. We discussed the fifth toe situation, and she decided she could step up and be the extra TMNT with a pink mask (because purple had already been taken by Donatello). Pop back in the microwave for another minute to dry.
Step 4: Because we were pressed for time, I stuck on the googly eyes using a low temperature glue gun. If we had more time, I would have used a regular clear drying glue so that JJ could do this part as well. (Tiny googly eyes are really fiddly, so they would be great fine motor practise).
Step 5: Write a turtle-y awesome birthday message! Haha, I borrowed this particular pun from the front of the birthday invitation. JJ (at four and a half) is still learning to write, so I wrote on the front of the card and she wrote her name on the inside.
Step 6: Pop it in an envelope, and go enjoy the party!!!
She must have had a great time, because afterwards she asked if she could have a Unicorn Ninja party for her fifth birthday, which sounds like an absolutely amazing birthday theme (but one that I’m not sure I could quite pull off).
So far she wants a Unicorn Ninja party, a Hippo Has A Hat party, an Alice in Wonderland party, an Under The Sea / Mermaid party… I suggested an Alphabet party, but I don’t think she’s buying it. I hope she can decide on something soon, because I need to start planning!
xx Danya