2 Black Dots For Cockatoo Eyes

For the past couple of weeks we have had a group of 15 cockatoos visiting our garden. Reason; our neighbors passionfruit. Me and the girls have enjoyed watching them find the leftover passionfruit and squabbling over who gets to eat it. They were on our roof on the shed and on the clothes drying rack. We find small pieces of passionfruit all around our garden. The bush is empty now, so we have to create our own cockatoos.

Both of the girls participated in making this beautiful bird. They youngest of course needing a lot more help than Ellen. The basis of the cockatoo is a toilet roll. I love toilet rolls, they are so versatile. Wrapped in a white piece of paper we are well on our way to make the bird. A yellow piece of origami paper will become the comb. Ellen folded the paper in half and cut it along the line. Then she had to glue them together but just on the edge, this gave a bit of a hick up and we had to do it again with a bit more guidance. The two pieces got rolled up and on the open side we made cuts with our scissors. Unroll and glue it inside the toilet roll. A little piece of black foam sheet cut in a triangle formed the beak and two black dots for the eyes.

I had made an example cockatoo that Ellen could use to refer to, but when it comes to the wings she has her own ideas. Her cockatoo isn’t going to sit on a branch, her cockatoo is spreading its wings. We fold a piece of white paper in half to get the same wings. We draw the shape of the wing and cut it out. A couple of cuts in the tip of the wings resemble the feathers and we stick them on the body. Ellen is proud of her cockatoo and makes another one. As soon as she gets a chance she shows it of to the neighbors and that afternoon I am again making cockatoos. Now with the neighbors kids.