Fox in The Forest

When we were visiting relatives in New Jersey recently, we got to see two beautiful red foxes up close, a father and son.  My husband's uncle saw the fox in his back yard and it didn't look so good, mangy and not healthy.  He researched on the Internet what to give the fox to help it stop itching and get better and saw he could get a pig medication from a feed store and adjust the dose to the estimated weight if the fox.  He started putting the medicine on food scraps he left out for the fox and he slowly got better and now has the most beautiful shiny fluffy coat of fur.  He didn't mention how he had helped the fox until after I kept commenting on how beautiful and healthy it looked for a wild animal that rummaged through trash.  I stood outside in the dark with him and rolled an egg to the fox and he came and got it.  I was fascinated by the creature.  It was so cool!  When we got back inside I commented "who knew uncle b was the real Kevin Costener in Dances with Wolves...except in this case foxes!  This fox is now a wild pet that knows them and trusts them...I just thought it was so cool that it inspired our art projects for the day!  I drew up an unfinished sample picture of a fox in the forest for the kids and then did a step by step drawing lesson focusing on using the five elements of shape.  We used the crayola twistable colored pencils to add color.  In the bottom left hand corner you can see I made a sampe page of things they could add to their forest floor.

Here's is my daughter's version.  She's not quite finished with it, but she liked how her fox turned out.

Our drawing was followed by a handicraft.  I made a template and then cut out the pieces in felt and sewed the eyes on with the sewing machine.  I made the eyes closed like a sleepy fox because it just seemed easiest that way.  Then the kids used needle and thread to sew the insides of the ears and around the eyes.  Then I showed them a different kind of stitch to sew the two sides of their bag together...I don't actually know the names of the stitches other than "up down up down" and "up and around up and around"....lol.  When they got done they stitched a ribbon to the corners of the ears for a strap to wear their fox bag.  I had in mind this might be a cute little pouch to wear on nature outings to collect fun nature finds.  

The extras will be great little handmade gifts J can make for her cousins to send for Christmas! 

And then "What Does The Fox Say" came on the radio and the kids were ecstatic with all the foxiness going on! Lol

Creative inspiration credit for the fox image from the beautifully talented joojoo etsy shop.  I came across her little fox during a google image search when I was looking for ideas for showing my kids how to draw a fox.  You can go right on over to her shop and buy a beautiful print!  https://www.etsy.com/listing/155009705/fox-print-fox-painting-fox-illustration