How to Make Your Very Own Mr. Sun from Eric Carle

Look who will be visiting my room every day this year! Yep that is Mr. Sun and isn't he fabulous. Now I'm not really sure what his real name is but that is what I'm going to call him. I might even have to bust into that Raffi song, Mr. Sun, every once in a while.

I can't help but smile when I see him. Now for those of you who might not know who Mr. Sun is, he is a character that pops up in a lot of Eric Carle's children's books. I used this picture from The Very Hungry Caterpillar to be my guide. I was pretty darn close if you ask me!

Here's another view with more of my classroom. I love that he is right between those big windows. I'll never complain about sunshine in a classroom.

To make him, I used a book as a reference, foam brushes, cups for the paint, a large piece of white butcher paper, a yardstick, and tempera paint in yellow, red, and orange.

I started by painting with yellow in different directions and then repeated with orange. I switched back and forth between the two colors a lot. I made the shape much bigger than I needed because I needed to have extra paint pieces for his sun rays. Don't think too much about this. Have fun with it. Eric Carle calls this making "Pretty Paper" and if you haven't seen the video of him making his art, I highly recommend it.

After I got his body nice and radiant, I used a yardstick to make a straight line across the bottom and then measured out my arch. My sun is just about 35 inches across and the arch is 18 inches from the center. I know he doesn't look that big.

 

After I cut him out, I used a pencil to draw the face and then covered it with red paint mixed with yellow to make a darker orange.  I cut the extra left over painted pieces into 1 inches strips of varying lengths for his rays. I did mine in a short, long pattern. Eric Carle's version is much more random. Make it fit you.

 

To hang it up, I just rolled blue painter's tape on the back of him. The blue painter's tape is great for preventing wall damage. It is also easy to peel off and restick if you don't like how you hung something. 

 

 I'm now even more excited to get started on the other characters. I'll keep posting more pics as I get more of my room done.