Just mention the word dragons and you immediately attract the interest of every child. The mythical fire-breathing creatures have tremendous appeal in the early-years settings and they offer you lots of craft opportunities, says Angela Youngman
Dragons of course, can come in all colours and sizes; they can be friendly, naughty or evil. They can fly, breath fire and even have magic powers. According to legend, dragons love gold and like to sleep on huge piles of gold and jewels.
So, how can you incorporate them into your everyday activities?
Here are a few ideas.
Scrap dragon
We’ve all heard of the snap dragon – well, why not create a Scrap dragon? All you need are some cardboard boxes, fabrics, paints and crayons. The largest box can be turned into the body of the dragon. Leave the top open folding back the flaps to form the basis for wings. A selection of longer, thinner boxes can be turned into the tail, neck and head. Paint the boxes in bright colours, and decorate with fabrics or other collage materials to make scales. Overlapping handprints can make a very attractive scaly effect, as do pieces of cellophane or old CDs if you can find enough. Yoghurt pots can be turned into protruding eyes. When complete, the body of the dragon can be used to keep scrap materials of all kinds – children will love feeding the dragon.
Dragon’s den
A dragon needs a den, which can be created in a corner of the room. Crepe paper, boxes, sequins, glitter, fabric, scrunched up paper are just some of the materials that can be used, but this is time to let the children use their own imaginations – they can use anything! Dragon’s eggs can be made out of papier mache formed around small balloons. When they are dry, paint them.
Little dragons
Small individual baby dragons can be made from the same gummed paper strips you probably used to make paper chains at Christmas time. Each child can create a little chain of interlocking strips. A circle of paper folded in two semicircles and attached to the chain makes the head. Get them to draw some eyes; add teeth and a tongue – with flames as an optional extra! Two similar semicircles on either side of the body form the wings. For some added sparkle, you could sprinkle some glitter, add a shiny fabric or other material.
Paper puppets
Dragon’s head hand puppets made from paper bags are great fun. All that is required is a bunch of paper bags and some materials with which to decorate them, plus of course, a good sprinkling of imagination. Why not, for instance, add lots of paper streamers that will fly out behind the puppet and can give the impression that the dragon is flying as the child moves their hand around.
Lollipop puppets
Another equally simple version of a dragon puppet can be made using lollipop sticks. First, you will need to cut out a head shape and a tail shape out of paper or cardboard. Stick each one on a lollipop stick. Join the two sticks with an oblong piece of paper folded like an accordion. Add some feet and perhaps finish the puppet off with red or gold streamers from the mouth. Alternatively turn the dragon puppet into a dragon boat so that the head becomes the front, and the tail the back of the boat. Let it dance above the water (any suitable bluish material) held up at low height so that children can move the dragons along while their friends watch.
Throughout the summer Norwich held a very popular dragons’ trail through the city, which included a large number of dragons decorated by schools of all kinds. Take a look at the website www.gogodragons.co.uk to see some of the creative designs, which included infant schools using buttons, pictures, handprints and finger prints to cover their dragons. Air-drying clay can be used to form small dragons using the simple techniques involved in rolling out pieces of clay and shaping them. Once dry, they can be painted or decorated in whatever design appeals to the child. Why not put them on display in the room to create a mini dragon trail that your children can follow, count the dragons or make up stories about them?
Musical accompaniment
Options for involving music with a dragon theme are endless. How about a dragon adventure based on “we’re going on a dragon hunt” with the children moving across all kinds of surfaces such as fields, mountains, rivers, rocks and making the appropriate movements each time?
Number crunching
Learning the numbers 1 to 5 can be extra fun when dragons are involved. Try teaching a simple song with actions to the tune of 5 little ducks:
5 little dragons went out to play,
Over the hills and far away,
Mother dragon said it’s time for tea,
But only 4 little dragons came back.
Repeat the same verse for 4 little dragons, 3 little dragons, 2 little dragons and 1 little dragon
Then comes the final verse:
Mother dragon began to breath fire
But the tears she cried made the fire expire
Mother dragon said it’s a very fine tea
And all the 5 little dragons came back.
An accordion style book can be made to accompany the song containing images of the dragons and the number underneath.
Need more inspiration?
More inspiration for story making can be sought from favourite children’s nursery songs like Puff the Magic Dragon, or picture books like Ivor the Engine and the story of Idris the Dragon by Oliver Postgate, or Christopher Wormeli’s George and the Dragon. Children enjoy making up their own stories using role-play within their dragon’s den, using their model dragons and dancing under there Chinese Dragon.
Bear in mind that not all dragons are mythical. There are real life Komodo dragons, the most dangerous lizards in the world, whose saliva is poisonous and can kill even though they do not breath fire. There are Komodo dragons living in many of the zoos around the UK – so why not take a trip to the zoo and see a real, live dragon?
