Cardboard Critters

This instructable will show you how to make fun, easy to make critters...kids should have fun with this!

Simply use a piece of corrugated cardboard to draw a body and four legs. Nothing has to be perfect, but strive to make it look reasonable.

I use a bandsaw, just to speeds things up. But all of these parts can be cut out with scissors. I recommend some heavy duty ones as the cardboard is pretty tough. Might be too much for small hands so an adult may need to cut them out.

I used a bone scorer to to make the "scales". Score several lines the entire length of the body. What you want to do is create depressions that will catch light and make shadows and give the appearance of scales. To paint, I used acrylic craft paint, and used the tip of my finger to spread it around. Have a wet piece of towel or a sponge handy to wipe the paint off....you don't want it to be a solid color.

An additional step to make the scales is to use a fine tip marker, black or brown, and draw the scale patterns as shown.

By sideloading a brush with paint, you can give a blended appearance of shadow around the entire body and legs.

I don't score the body, but just bend the cardboard into a rounded shape. This will make the lizards look more lifelike.

To paint the eyes, I used a fine tip brush, used green or yellow paint and allowed that to dry. Then, with that same brush, added a very small highlight of white to each eye.

A very small piece of pink construction paper is cut to make the tongue. Lizards and snakes have forked tongues, so be sure and cut this as well.