Bird of the Year
The kākāpō is a nocturnal, flightless parrot that’s just a little unusual. Known by some as ‘moss chickens’, they once used to roam throughout New Zealand before becoming critically endangered. Now there are only about 200 of these guys left, but that didn’t stop the kākāpō beating out the competition to become the 2020 Bird of The Year.
Although these guys don’t fly, they have pretty big wings which means they tend to uh… awkwardly tumble out of trees. Luckily, they’re pretty good climbers, using their talons and breaks to scale sometimes 100 feet up into the trees.
In honour of the Bird of The Year 2020, we have a crafty project that’s pretty simple to make and lots of fun.
The potato stamp kākāpō
Gather your supplies, you will need.
- A paint brush
- Paper
- A potato cut in two width ways
- A carrot cut length ways
- Green, white and black paint
- A pallet (a piece of wax paper or plastic plate will do)
Get to work.
- Squirt the three colours of paint onto your pallet
- Paint the end of the cut potato and carrot with green and white (this will be your kākāpō’s body and feathers) then stamp the potato on your paper to create a head and body. Stamp the end of the kākāpō’s body with your carrot stamp to create its tail feathers
- Use the black paint (or even mix it with white to make grey) with your paint brush to paint the final touches - the kākāpō’s eye, legs and beak!
- Let your picture dry, take a photo of your masterpiece and get mum or dad to send it to us.
We love to see what our budding artists are up to, snap a picture and send your masterpiece to our whānau at info@kiwikidsabroad.
