Today in our co-op Kindergarten/First Grade class, we read The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack. In the story, the little yellow duck Ping is late returning to his home, a boat on the Yangtze River. Today, each student made their own “Ping.” Here’s how we did it:

Supplies:

• White or yellow socks
• Rit fabric dye (optional) – yellow and orange
• Large googley eyes
• White glue or a low-temp hot glue gun/glue sticks
• Yellow felt
• Pen
• Scissors
• Fiberfill (stuffing)
• Rubber Bands

You can use a white sock for the duck, or, if you want a yellow duck like Ping, use a yellow sock. We didn’t have yellow socks available, so I dyed the socks yellow (before class) using Rit dye. Then, to create an orange beak, I dyed the top of the ribbed part of the sock (about 1 ½ inches) using the orange Rit dye.

1. Give each student a sock, and have them stuff the sock with fiberfill to the ribbing. They’ll need more stuffing for a fatter duck; less stuffing for a soft and floppy duck. When they have finished stuffing the duck’s body, tie it off by looping a rubber band around the sock.

2. Students will then stuff the “head” of the duck the same way. Use the stuffing to fill the sock up to the orange beak. More stuffing will create a rounder head. When the head is full, tie it off by looping another rubber band around it.

3. You now have the beak, head, and body of the duck. To finish the beak, cut a straight line on one side of it. Cut another straight line on the opposite side. Now there is a top part and lower part of the beak.

4. Glue the googley eyes on the head.

5. With your pen, draw out two wings on the yellow piece of felt. Cut out the wings.

6. Glue the wings to the duck’s body, and Ping is ready to go!

*Note: White glue takes longer to dry and may not be as secure as the hot glue.