Make a Shark Using Sandpaper
Little boys and girls find sharks and marine life fascinating. Inspire their learning, creativity and artistic talents by making a 3-D shark using sandpaper. A flat-bodied hammerhead or nurse shark is a good beginner's project for children. Sandpaper is an excellent material to use for the shark skin because it feels like the animal's skin--if you pet a shark from the tail toward the head. Shark scales are made of a hard material called dentin. Basically, the scales are tiny teeth, says Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience Senior Writer, in his article, Fake Shark Skin Could Make Navy Fleet Faster. Thus, if you pet the shark stroking against the little teeth, it will feel like sandpaper.
Instructions
1. Select a shark to make that is more flat in shape like the nurse shark or the hammerhead shark.
2. Draw or trace an image of a nurse shark or hammerhead shark on a piece of cardboard as if you were looking down on the shark. Create a template of this shape if you are working with a lot of children or using this as a classroom activity.
3. Draw the first dorsal fin and caudal fin (tail) on the cardboard. Draw any additional fins or features that you want to include. Older children can create a more accurate shark with greater precision than younger children.
4. Cut the shark body, dorsal fin, caudal fin and any other details you may have added out of the cardboard.
5. Cover the pieces of the shark using sandpaper cut to the same shape. You can place the shark pieces on the back of the sandpaper (the smooth side), trace them and then cut the pieces out. Then cover both the top and bottom of the shark using sandpaper or just the top of the shark, dorsal fins, and caudal fin (tail) by gluing the sandpaper in place.
6. Glue the dorsal fin to the top of the shark's body and the caudal fin to the end of the shark body. Tacky glue or hot glue dries the fastest, allowing students to play with the 3-D shark.
Tips Warnings
Bend or fold the middle of the shark to create a slight sloping down of the sides to make it more realistic.
Using cardboard from a storage or packing box rather than a cereal box will produce a thicker shark; however, if you bend or slightly fold the middle of the shark from head to tail, this simple 3-D shark will look like a swimming nurse or hammerhead shark depending on the head shape you chose.
Watch an educational and age-appropriate film on sharks with the children and their new sharks made with sandpaper.
