With the magic of dry ice, guest Dian Thomas creates a fire-breathing dragon that spews "smoke" from its mouth. Made of oatmeal boxes, pompoms, felt and trim, this dragon is fun to make and is a super form of entertainment for the kids.
Materials:
two, 18-oz. empty round oatmeal boxes, lids removed
two, 36-oz empty round oatmeal boxes, lids removed
sheet of poster board
two yards cream-colored self-adhesive paper
bright green fluorescent spray paint
one yard wide yellow rickrack
two large wiggly eyes or black buttons
two large orange pompoms
1/4 yard dark red felt
1-1/2" wide dark green plastic tape
scissors
glue gun
glue sticks
custard cup
dry ice (distributors in Yellow Pages under "Ice")
Safety Note: Always wear gloves when handling dry ice and use a hammer to break large pieces into smaller ones. The temperature of dry ice is approximately 109-degrees below zero and it will burn exposed skin. Always be cautious and never allow children to handle the dry ice.
Steps:
- Cut two dragon wings from poster board, leaving at least a one-inch flap to attach them to dragon (figure A).
- Spray paint the wings, the bottoms of all the boxes, and the self-adhesive paper using green paint. The paint does not have to be smooth-splotches of light and dark green color give a nice dragon-like effect. Once dry, cover the boxes with painted paper.
- Cut a mouth from the closed end of one of the large boxes by cutting two triangles from the sides, 3" x 5" deep, to form the sides of the dragon's mouth, with a connecting opening across the closed end of the box. Leave the opening large enough to insert the custard cup.
- Glue rickrack around the mouth for teeth (figure B). Glue eyes onto the orange pom-poms, then glue on top of the head.
- Cut two teardrop-shaped nostrils and a forked tongue from the felt (figure C). Glue the nostrils above the mouth and glue the tongue in the open mouth so that it hangs over the lower jaw.
- Attach the wings to the back of the head with green plastic tape.
- To make the body, tape the open ends of the two large boxes together (figure D). Tape the head to one end of the body, and tape the open end of the other small box to the other end of the body.
- Glue a triangle of felt on the closed end of the last box for the tail. Cut circles from red felt and glue them on the body of the dragon to represent freckles.
- Put pieces of dry ice in the custard cup and place the cup inside the mouth of the dragon.
- As your party begins, pour hot water over the ice; the hotter the water, the greater the steam. The water will gradually freeze around the dry ice.
Note: To create more and continuous steam, remove the cup and run hot water over it periodically to melt the ice from around the dry ice. The cup will hold enough dry ice to "breathe" for three to five minutes.
Resources Holiday Fun Year-Round With Dian Thomas
by Dian Thomas
Betterway Books, 1999
Order this title from Amazon.com.
Guests Dian Thomas
Craft Creator / Author, The Dian Thomas Company
PO Box 171107
Holladay, UT 84117
Toll-free: 800-846-6355
Fax: 801-278-0202
E-mail:
dian@dianthomas.com
Website:
www.dianthomas.com
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