turtle takeover

This past Wednesday, our Stroller Strides class was held at the Great Lakes Zoological Society.  The small indoor zoo made for a fantastic backdrop for class and a fun playdate afterwards.  Ella had a great time moving her step stool from enclosure to enclosure to see the animals (though she may have been more interested in the step stool then the reptiles and birds at times).  But there were a few of the reptiles she seemed especially taken with - the very active red eared sliders were one of them.  I actually had one of these fine looking turtles growing up (her name was in Angel, may she rest in peace), and so it was fun to see her so excited and curious about them.  

I've been wanting for some time to start designing some activities for her that would tie together an actual experience with a fun craft.  She is getting old enough to understand these things and has more patience to actually execute them.  So, by the seat of my pants, I decided to take out a stack of construction paper when we got home so we could make a turtle.  I quickly cut out a green half circle for the shell and some brown legs and a head.  I then applied the glue to the legs and the head, letting her stick them on (with my direction for placement - uh, can you say control freak).  I then hurriedly began cutting hexagons out of an old catalog, applying glue and handing them over to her to glue on wherever she saw fit (I did a better job this time of letting her do her thing).  And then out came the crayons.  She decorated the shell further with a flourish of quick scribbles, held it up so I could snap a few pictures on my phone, and then scurried off to yell at Henry, our dog (or play, I'm not sure which).

Do you have any good companion activities you do with your kids?