Crafts & Fun

Hello, Doll Face
Transform apples into smiling grannies and grandpas.

Start with a large firm apple such as Delicious. Peel but leave a rim of skin approximately 1 cm (½ in.) at the top and bottom. For safe carving tools, use the tip of a potato peeler, a plastic knife and a pen.

First, scoop out a small crescent shape for each eye. Then, poke a hole, about 1 cm (½ in.) deep into the middle of each crescent with a pen. For the nose, carve a U shape in the middle of the face, then scrape out a thin trough of apple around the U. Scoop out a small half moon under the apple of each cheek, for defined cheekbones.

To create wrinkles, score lines beside each eye and across the forehead. Mix the juice of one lemon and 30 mL (2 tbsp) each of salt and water. Place the mixture in a Ziploc plastic bag. To preserve the apple head, seal it in the bag for one hour. Then, pat the apple dry with paper towels, tie a string around the stem and hang it up in a dry place. Over three weeks, watch your apple doll gain wrinkles and shrink to half its size.

To add features, colour cheeks and lips with permanent markers. With white glue, attach cotton wool for hair and place small black, blue or brown beads in the eye sockets. For a body, carve a hole in the bottom of the head and place it on an empty dish detergent bottle or a wooden dowel. Tape a fabric cape and skirt on your doll for finishing touches.

Core Subjects

An apple a day makes a pretty print.

To help paint adhere to apples, first make a homemade stamp pad. Pour enough liquid tempera paint to cover the bottom of a plastic lid or margarine container, and stir in a few drops of water. Place a thin kitchen sponge in the paint and press it down until it absorbs the colour.

Cut any size apple in half vertically (grown-ups only). Press the cut side of the apple onto the sponge stamp pad and press the apple onto white or construction paper. Since preschoolers tend to scrub the apple across the page, show them how to press and make a clear print. For more fun, make prints with an apple cut in half horizontally and admire the star that magically appears.

Originally published in Today's Parent, October 2003