Derby Horse and Hat

We live in Kentucky, so when the Kentucky Derby rolls around, it's a big deal. It's that time of year and Derby is right around the corner. Last year we babysat the sweet 2 year old that we keep during the week for Derby (her parents went to Derby - how fun!).  So, in the spirit of Derby we made a few projects.  A Derby Horse and a Derby Hat. 

For the horse, I had the girls put their shoes on and stand on a brown piece of construction paper.  I traced around one of their shoes and then had the 4 year old cut hers out and I cut the 2 year old's out. Then we cut out a strip for the neck and two triangles for ears. 

Like the tongue...a sign of a true artist at work, right?  Michael Jordan stuck his tongue out when he dunked the ball, so I take that to mean whatever she sticks her tongue out while doing, she'll do like a pro :)

I had pink yarn (I know, not realistic, but it's "pretty"...and that matters to some little girls), so I wrapped it around our paper towel holder and then cut down the middle to make several at one time little "hairs" for the mane.

After that we glued the ears and neck to the face (foot).  Once the horses were assembled we glued the mane (yarn) to the neck and between the ears.  After that we just glued on eyes and drew nostrils for the nose and our horse was complete. The 2 year old's horse ended up with 4 eyes and some extra colors on it...love the creativity of little ones.

Then we thought we should make a Derby hat to go with our Derby horse. 

For the hat, we cut the middle out of a paper plate (plus a little to get around her head) - this I did with just the 4 year old while the 2 year old napped.  I let her decorate her hat with markers and stickers while I cut different size squares from old magazines.  I chose pages that were brightly colored and in contrasting colors.  Then I had her cut them in flower shapes.  This can be done free hand, or you can fold the squares in half to make a triangle, then in half again into a triangle shape, and then once more - then cut the edge of the triangle and open it up to a flower. Then we glued 3-4 flowers on top of each other largest to smallest to make our finished flower.  These would be cute with a button glued in the center too.

Then we glued the flowers on the hat, punched two holes in the sides and put yarn on it to tie the hat in place.  She saw a picture of the 2 year old's mom with her Derby hat on (which she wore to the side) so she had to wear her hat to the side because "that's how you wear a Derby hat!"

Don't mind the food on her face :)

Let the races begin...

Molly