Rock-a-Bye Horse

What You’ll Need:

• ruler
• short cardboard tube
• four ice-cream sticks
• glue
• pencil
• empty oatmeal container
• scissors
• hole punch
• thin cardboard
• poster paints
• felt
• yarn

How to Make It:

1. Poke two slits, about 1 inch apart, near each end of a short cardboard tube. Push one end of an ice-cream stick into each hole to make the horse’s legs. Glue them in place and let them dry.

2. To make the rockers, draw three pencil lines, each 1 inch apart, around an empty oatmeal container or a similar cardboard cylinder.

3. Cut down the side of the container and along each pencil line. Then cut the three curved strips in half.

4. On four of the strips, use a hole punch to make a hole about 2 1/2 inches from each end. Push an ice-cream stick through each hole to make the holes a bit bigger.

5. Line up the holes in two of the strips. Glue the strips together. Then glue them inside one of the strips with no holes. Do the same with the other strips.

6. Position the bottom of the horse's legs in the holes. Glue them in place. Let the glue dry.

7. Cut a horse's head and two ears from thin cardboard. Glue the ears to the head.

8. Cut a slit about 1 1/2 inches long in one end of the body, on the top. Slide the head into the slit and glue it in place.

9. Paint the horse and rockers with poster paint. Cut eyes and a saddle from felt. Use yarn to make a mane and bridle. Glue them in place.

10. To make the tail, cut several 3-inch-long pieces of yarn. Tie them together near one end with another piece of yarn. Glue that end inside the back of the cardboard tube. Glue scraps of cardboard inside the back of the body if it needs balancing.