After reading Julia Dweck’s e-book, “Humpfree, The Humpless Camel” (you can read about it here), the creative juices of our family began to flow. ( There are affiliate links within this post for your convenience.)

We’ve spent the past two weeks doing nothing but camel crafts: two humps, one hump, and Flatback camels were all accounted for!

The first craft the children made were handprint camels. This is one of the crafts in “Christmas Crafts For Kids: 100+ Activities, Crafts, and Recipes based on Children’s Books” by Beth Gorden (In this book the craft is based on Humphrey’s First Christmas by Carol Heyer). Both children loved painting their own hands and making a print on their papers. After it was dry they added some facial features and painted sand and sky to complete their pictures.

The second craft they did was also based on Beth Gorden’s book. Kallista made a two-humped camel from an egg carton, cardboard and clothespins.

Tristan used the same idea, but instead of using the egg-holding side of the egg carton, he used the lid and made a Flatbacked camel! He’s obsessed with the Flatback!
Then to have some extra fun with Tristan’s Flatbacked camel, we took out another craft the children made last week and used their pinecone critters and pretended they were porcupines using Humpfree as a soft bed.
Another way Humpfree, The Humpless Camel tried to create humps for himself was with feathers.
Kallista received a cute little stuffed camel from her Canadian Aunt for her birthday last year. We call it Kammi. If you’ve heard of the song “Alice The Camel”, then you can guess what we’ve been singing. Kammi the camel has 2 humps, Kammi the camel has 2 humps, Kammi the camel has2 humps, Go Kammi Go, as we count down and fold over the humps on Kammy. We’ve been singing this since the week Kammy arrived, and it’s so fitting now! You can see Kammi in this photo of the children reading about Humpfree.
I have been doing a cultural exchange with someone from Uzbekistan and in his last package we received a couple of postcards, including this one with a two-headed camel. Although the one in this scene is a statue, he says that they do exist. One strange fact is that he says camels are common in the urban areas and put to work, camels are very rare to see in the wild.
Since Tristan made a bean bag pancake in the spring, he’s been wanting to sew some more. So we brought out the felt and made a pattern. Tristan did very well with his pattern, but the camel’s neck was too thin to cut or sew, so we used my attempt. We made the patterns while at the library one afternoon. We found a photo of one in the children’s encyclopedia to use for inspiration. Tristan wanted a Flatbacked camel, but settled for a one-humped camel for a little variety as he already had one and no-humped camels.

I think Tristan did a great job with his sewing on this one. And we can use it for a Christmas decoration so it serves as a double-purpose camel as well. Always great to have many uses for something!
The weather here has turned quite nasty this week with wind and torrential rain that we’ve been caught out in. On Tuesday we stayed indoors and caught up on this and that. To burn off some steam the children came up with this idea all on their own, and have been having a ball doing it ever since. Tristan is a Flatbacked camel and Kallista is going for a ride to save the world.
If you enjoy bringing books to life, please see some of the other book activities we’ve done:
Browse through our pages on books and book activities and felt crafts for more crafty ideas!
Tina at Mommynificent says
What fun! That is a really catchy tune. Thanks for sharing at Booknificent Thursday.
Tina
Crystal McClean says
It does stick in your head, doesn’t it?! I’ll see you again soon π
Beth says
Cute camel ideas! Looks like a fun week!
Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Hope to see you linked up again later today,
Beth =)
Crystal McClean says
Thank you for stopping by, Beth π Your Christmas book is fantastic! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving weekend!
Rebekah says
These ideas are great!! How old is Tristan? Does he use a real needle, or a plastic one?
Crystal McClean says
Hi Rebekah! Tristan is 5, but he’s been sewing felt with a real needle since he was 3. His fine-motor skills have always been very good for his age so we try to let him participate in activities with the ‘real’ tools (under supervision when required).
Jill @ Called To Be A Mom says
Those are cute! I like the idea of having activities to go with books you just read.
Crystal McClean says
Since we’ve been doing extra book activities it makes the books so much more fun for everyone, including us parents! Please give it a try π
Stephanie @ From the Burbs to the Boonies says
I love those pinecone critters! Ha! Those are cute. And too cute the kids were playing “camel” π
Crystal McClean says
The pinecone critters were actually made for another project, but they came in handy for this π I love to see siblings getting along and making up their own games, it really warms my heart.
Missy Homemaker says
I love the sewing activity. I’ve never thought about doing that with my boys.
Crystal McClean says
It’s a practical skill to have when they get older so they can mend their own clothes! My son loves sewing and wants to make something for his sister now π
Adelien says
Gosh, this is what I am waiting for. I remember the song Alice the Camel. My Aussy friend taught me that song. I love the camel models using the egg carton. Great idea, Crystal. Thank you for sharing.
Crystal McClean says
Thanks so much for the high compliments, Adelien! It’s so fun when things come together π I love Julia’s books as they keep us busy with activities!