Play Dough Craft for Strictly No Elephants

Today we’re joining the Book + Craft Ideas Week to share another fun book extension activity. The picture book Strictly No Elephants is a charming story about friendship, fitting in, and embracing differences.

(Disclosure: Books and Giggles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.)

Simply No Elephants, written by Lisa Mantchev and illustrated by Taeeun Yoo, tells of a little boy with a “tiny elephant for a pet.”  My favorite scene shows the boy carrying the tiny-but-still-large elephant over a sidewalk crack that it’s afraid of because,


“That’s what friends do: lift each other over the cracks.”

The boy finds that he and his elephant aren’t welcome at Pet Club Day – a sign on the door says “Strictly No Elephants.”

They turn around and the little pet elephant leads the way, right over the sidewalk cracks because,


“That’s what friends do: brave the scary things for you.”

Isn’t that beautiful!

The story continues, and they befriend other children with unusual pets: a skunk, a giraffe, a hedgehog, penguin, narwhal, bat, armadillo, and more. In the end, they start their own club, where everyone is welcome.

 

RELATED: Anti-Bullying Invitation to Play

 

Book Extension Activity — Play Dough Craft

I was trying to think of a craft for this story, and I remembered all the simple animals my girls were drawing last year. They all had an oval as the foundation.

Then I got out the play dough.

It turns out it’s really easy to make flat play dough animals. Much easier than fully 3-D ones.

You roll a ball, then roll the ball into a bit of a log shape. Then you press that flat into an oval. Add bits for legs, head, tail, ears, and if it’s an elephant — a trunk!

 

This turned out to be a good way to use up the mystery color play dough you get when lots of colors get mixed together.

 

You can also make other animals this way. We made a giraffe and a skunk.

 

The finishing touch was my crafting favorite – googly eyes!

This was all a fun way to remember a sweet story of friendship. Strictly No Elephants is quickly on its way to becoming one of our favorites.

 

Also recommended: The Blind Men and the Elephant (affiliate)