Versatility

I've been teaching a children's art class called "Fun With Paper" in which we've been doing a variety of activities including paper mâche.  I thought it was interesting that this was the activity everyone was most excited about yet no one had ever done it or knew what it was.  As we crumpled paper to make the base one 8 year old boy, Jack, announced that his was going to be a VW Beetle as he loves vehicles.  The next day as we prepared for the 2nd layer of newspaper he announced that it really looked more like a turtle so proceeded to make some legs.  On the 3rd day he announced that he liked hamsters better than turtles so that would be his new direction.  So on the 4th day we mixed the perfect shade of brown.  On the last day, when we would be adding final details, he announced that he wanted to make and outfit for his hamster.  Perhaps a sweater?  Never mind that it's a 90 degree day!  So I pulled out the fabric scraps and llama fleece and he went to town.  When he finished the sweater he decided some jewelry might be in order so I found some pearl strands.  He then added a flower to disguise the fact that the pearls weren't long enough to fit around her neck.  The final addition was a huge pink smile that he drew on her face.  It nearly matched the size of his as he admired the end result.