Pegasus is part horse, part bird; merfolk are part human, part fish; cockatrice is part chicken, part reptile; plus winged lions and feathered serpents and many animal-headed gods… There are a lot of mythological hybrid creatures. And who knows what is living in the camp lake?

We are going to create our own hybrid critters in a mix and match book!

Supplies:

  • Postcard-sized card – at least 6 pieces
  • Pen or pencil
  • Colouring pencils, or other art supplies to decorate
  • Staples, or hole punch and 2 binder rings
  • Scissors

Critter Mix and Match Instructions:

1. Decide how many animals you are going to draw. You will need one piece of postcard-sized card per animal, plus 2 more. I am going to draw a dog, elephant, kingfisher, octopus, plesiosaur, and JimBob our friendly snail mascot, so I will need 8 pieces of card.

pieces of paper, cut in 2 even halves

2. Set aside 2 pieces of card. These will be the front and back cover. Cut the rest of the card in half.

A stack of the paper halved with 2 marks along the edge

3. To help make sure that the front half and the back half of the creatures will match, make two marks around 1-2 inches / 2.5-5cm apart on one long edge of the card.

a sketch of JimBob the snail over 2 pieces of paper so that the body is split in half where the 2 marks line up

4. Take two pieces of card, make sure the marks on the edge match up, and start drawing your first animal! Try to leave some space along the short edge where you will be attaching the cards together.

JimBob figure is now colored in and clipped together with a pair of rings along with the rest of the stack of paper halves

5. To make it into a booklet, place a piece of postcard-sized card at the front and back to make the covers, then either staple it together or use a hole punch and some binder rings. If you don’t have binder rings, you could improvise with a paperclip.

Finished flip book front cover with "IGGPPCamp Critters" written in bubble letters and colored in, surrounded by lines of paw prints going from top to bottom of the page

6. Decorate the front cover.

Flip through your new book and try out different combinations. Do you have a favourite critter? Does it have a name? Tell us it’s backstory on Discord or tag us on social media #IGGPPCamp

Contributed by Kate / Counselor McGuffin:
A book devourer, history geek and tea drinker living in the UK. Wishes she was cool enough to travel the galaxy or become a superhero. On Twitter @WroteKateC