Materials
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
fingerpaint
paper
tagboard outlines of fish
rubber cement or glue sticks
colored pens
Instructions
1. Read A House for Hermit Crab to show the children how the author (Eric
Carle) illustrated the book by using cutouts of fingerpaint drawings to
make collages.
2. Give each child a piece of painting paper. Write their names on the back
of their paper.
3. Invite the children to choose precut fish outlines for their paintings.
4. Help the children place their cutouts on their paper
and glue them in place.
5. Give each child about
1/4 cup of fingerpaint.
Encourage them to
paint all over their
paper and fish cutout.
After about five
minutes, ask them to
paint wavy lines on
their papers.
6. As soon as they are done,
remove the fish from each
child's paper. This should
leave the paper white where
the fish was.
7. When dry, have the children use
pens to make fish eyes and scales.
