Cheetah

Silvan has been in a cheetah craze for weeks, maybe even months. We've checked out every cheetah book from the library (and ordered more via ILL),  and watched cheetah movies on youtube or from the library (Disney's African Cats was a favorite). We drew cheetah, painted them, played cheetah (and hyena and lion families), sculpted them. There is no day without a cheetah talk. We've delved into topics such as living and dying, hunting and being hunted, defending your young ones, being scared, the ecosystem and the cycle of life. It was really interesting to see Silvan learn and ask questions and beginning to understand some larger concepts, and it was just fun to be creative, play and learn.

Here is Silvan's latest cheetah (oil based clay is great for playing; Nobuhiro and I created the Impala).

 Silvan looked into his book and picked a sprinting cheetah and began to shape the cheetah, making sure the legs, belly and neck had the right shapes and length.

He payed attention to the claws.

 The tail is striped and not dotted:
Making tails is so much fun and two is always better than one (also note the cute ears as well).

 Making the dots


  But the most fun is to play with the impala and cheetah, chasing them and hunting them: