He’s big. He’s soft. He’s…so…FLUFFY. This simple box kitty is also incredibly stylish.
We read Papillon: The Very Fluffy Kitty by A.N. Kang (Disney Hyperion, 2016). Papillon is a big, fluffy kitty. In fact, he’s so fluffy, he can float on air! Miss Tilly fears her cat will fly away and get lost, but then she discovers that clothing keeps Papillon on the ground. She begins designing costumes for Papillon, each outfit more ridiculous than the next. Papillon finally puts his paw down and refuses to wear anything. And, just as Miss Tilly fears, he floats out the window and gets lost in the scary woods. Papillon tries fashioning a hat, scarf and belt out of leafy vines so he can walk home, but they don’t work! Luckily, a friendly bird tows Papillon home. When Miss Tilly meets Papillon’s new friend, she has her best design idea ever…a birdhouse hat to keep the friends together, and Papillon somewhat grounded.
You’ll need:
- 1 large box (ours was 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” – a large tissue box works too)
- White poster board
- Cotton balls
- Black construction paper
- 1 paper cup
- Hat decorating supplies (more on this below)
- Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
- Hot glue
Basically, each kid started with a cat box, as shown above (it’s remarkably similar to this one, but we used a box instead of an oatmeal container this time). Definitely use hot glue to fix the pieces down, and use poster board for the hind legs, front legs, tail, and ears. Anything less sturdy is going to buckle under all that glue and cotton balls. Because you’re going to use lots and LOTS of glue and cotton balls…
Basically, just cover the box with cotton balls! The fluffier, the better! For the face, we used large, 1.5″ eyes stickers from Oriental Trading Company (a roll of 100 pairs is $2.50), and a bit of self-adhesive foam for the nose. You can just use construction paper to make these, though. The whiskers are construction paper as well.
Once the fluffy cats were finished, the costuming portion of the project began. We made hats. The basic hat was a 5.25″ circle of white poster board with a paper cup hot glued to it. Kids could choose the color, and height, of their paper cups.
Then, out came the Bling Bin, as well as sparkle stems, duck quills, patterned paper, and fabric flowers. And things got FANCY.
When the costumes were finished, each cat received his/her very own bird friend. This was a little wooden bird whistle, left over from this epic robot story time. Tweet tweet!
A tug is all it takes to activate this awesome paper lava volcano! Katie had lava on her mind when she designed this project…and we have some pretty spectacular proof of it at the end of the post!
Drop a paper cup in the top of the cone, then hot glue the bottom of the CUP to the corrugated base (no need to glue the volcano cone to the base). We added some orange tissue paper lava as well, but this is optional!
To make the eruption, cut a 2″ diameter circle out of poster board. Punch a hole in the center of the circle, then thread a 14″ piece of yarn through it. Secure the yarn to the back of the circle with tape.
Tape six, 6″ yellow and red paper streamers to the back of the circle. Definitely don’t do more than 6, or the circle won’t slide in and out of the cup as easily. We also added four, 6″ pieces of orange 
Finally, the smoke! Carefully thread a piece of polyester fill down the yarn, and hot glue it to the top of the circle. The yarn should rise from the center of the polyester fill.
To operate your volcano, gently push the eruption circle into the cup, leaving the yarn dangling out the side of the volcano cone. Tug the yarn, the circle will rise, and your volcano will erupt!
Katie was a little concerned about kids going home and jumping on their furniture to escape the lava. WHY was she concerned? Because that’s exactly what she and her brothers used to do everyday. It drove her mom bonkers. So she designed a “Lava Proof” spot for kids to jump on instead. Basically, this was a 12″ diameter cake circle. Kids could color in the 
One kid, however, took safety a step further and made her spot “Cheetah Proof” as well.
Our pilot, Scott, described what we were seeing from the windows of our helicopter the best: it is uncomfortably beautiful. Uncomfortable in the sense that many people have lost their homes and possessions because of the volcanic eruption, but beautiful because we were witnessing the birth of new land created by one of the most powerful natural forces on our planet.
I think what astounded me the most was the glow Fissure 8 created along the horizon, especially at night. We drove to Pāhoa one evening, which is the closest town to Fissure 8. The entire sky was an eerie orange color that would pulse and move as the lava erupted out of the ground. We also watched a sunset from Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the Big Island, and stayed until it was completely dark to stargaze and see the Milky Way galaxy. You can see the volcanic glow from Fissure 8 on Mauna Kea, and they are separated by 60 miles! Incredible!
Mahalo nui loa, Goddess Pele, for sharing your majesty with us. Our trip is one we will never, ever forget.
You can’t fly with one wing. But if you join up with another one-winged friend, well…the sky’s the limit! This project also double as a cute motor skills hook and balance game.
The other two game pieces are a lily pad and a flower. The lily pad is made out of construction paper, and the flower is a cupcake liner I found in the discount Easter section of Target. The flower is a small box hot glued to the top of a 6″ piece of paper towel tube. We added some green paper crinkle to the inside as well.
The final step is to rig up a fishing pole. We used a wooden dowel, yarn, and an unfolded paperclip fishing hook. To play the game, place Horsefly and Honeybee on the lily pad. Then hook them with the fishing pole and fly them to the safety of the flower.
Some story times, kids will grab the project’s supplies and create something entirely impromptu. So may I present…a Venus Fly Trap?