Great Googly-Moogly

So there was this Penguin Project that The Boy had to complete.  He had the Galapagos Penguin.  The instructions were to create either a poster, diorama, or shoebox that would give people facts about your penguin. Parents were allowed to help some, but the lion's share of the work was to be done by the student.

The Boy, in the great non-artistic tradition of everyone in the Big Arm family, chose a poster that he would decorate with photos from the web and facts about his penguin.  We printed pictures, he cut them out and glued them on, then I wrote what he wanted in pencil and he traced the letters, because he said his writing "wasn't big enough."

All was well.  For about five minutes, until he looked at me and said, "You know mommy, I think they'd all be more impressed if we made a penguin out of feathers."

O-KAY!

I explained that I wasn't entirely sure a) how one would do that, and b) how one would secure such a thing to a poster, and added that c) it sure would have been nice if he'd mentioned that BEFORE we FINISHED the project, but promised that I would go to Michael's the next day and see what was possible.

Happy note here:  The Boy doesn't procrastinate, so I was saved having to do this 30 minutes before the poster was due.  I must admit to being a fan of his anal-retentive tendencies in situations like this, although I am doing my best to tone that aspect of his personality down a hair before he ends up on Xanax in 3rd grade.  Seriously.  The child tends toward the stress-ball end of the spectrum and while he gets it honest, it makes me worry about him.  See?  Told you he got it honest!

ANYWAY, the next day saw me in the kid's crafts section of Michael's, trying to figure out how to craft a penguin from random art supplies.  Pom-pom penguin?  Too hard to attach.  Feathers?  Wrong color and wrong texture, unless we wanted a sunburned hooker penguin to adorn his project.  Glitter paint?  Felt?  Clay?  Sequins?  I was desperate, and then I saw it:  a sheet of black foam board with an example of a foam PENGUIN on it!  I was saved!  So I bought black and white foam, and googly eyes--because really, googly eyes are the secret weapon in any craft project--and a few more glue sticks, and headed home.

We were able to find a pattern for the penguin, and there was tracing and cutting and sticking and then the piece de resistance - Googly Eyes.  The Boy was quite excited about the googly eyes.

As were his classmates.

And so I have learned a valuable lesson that I will pass along to you, dear readers:  Googly Eyes make EVERYTHING better.

Maybe I'll stick a pair on my income tax return this year.