PERCY's PERFECT PIES

Celebrate the penultimate trifecta of art, poetry, and pie with these soft sculptures inspired by former children's poet laureate of the U.S. Jack Prelutsky's perfectly hilarious poem, "Percy's Perfect Pies." I've done this with up to 22 students, grades K-5, at the beginning of the school year and it's about choicemaking, tacky glue & scissors skills, imagination, & silliness. I started by reciting the poem, which names 24 ludicrous pies (my faves: Possum Penguin Prickly Pear & Skunk Asparagus Supreme.) Then I provided kids with a tin with attached crust (leaving 1/3 of the circumference open for stuffing), stuffing fluff, and all the ingredients in small bins on their tables for merry, munchy mayhem. Tacky glue in small tubs applied with q-tips anchored most ingredients, with a few warm glue guns standing by for chaperoned use by grades 3rd and up. I sealed the crust with hot glue as everyone worked, and early finishers decorate a pie sign to identify the ingredients in their own personal perfect pie.

Supplies:
5" tinfoil pie plates
6 1/4"-inch circles of a stretchy fabric like fleece (bought on sale!) & snipped in at least 5 places like real pie crust
poly stuffing
craft glue in small tubs (make your own by letting white glue sit outor a couple of days, stirring now and then)
q-tips to apply glue
warm glue gun & sticks

Pie ingredients can include anything glueable with tacky glue ​(I do afix googly eyes to chenille stems with the warm glue gun, though)
chenille stems
googly eyes
craft fur
cotton balls (I used real cotton from an  field down the road)
feathers
collage paper
felt scraps
q-tips
twigs
etc.

Tools
scissors (it's nice to have a pair of child-sized fabric scissors available for grades 3 +
markers/colored pencils/crayons

Prep Steps Below Photos

Prep:

1.  6 1/4" rounds from stretchy fabric like on-sale fleece. Clip slits in each (grades 3-5 can clip their own with fabric scissors; easier to clip them all.) 

2. Using hot glue, fix at 3 points around the edges, then glue 2/3 of the crust to edge of pie plate, leaving 1/3 open for stuffing. 

3. cut an assortment of craft fur into small pieces and set in small containers.

I set out on each table:
-- craft glue in pots on plates with q-tips
-- markers/crayons/scissors in a tri-compartment bin
-- collage papers 
-- craft fur/feathers/oddments
-- pie signs

Poem Appetit!

Artfully yours,
Ms. Betsy