Mermaid Dreams by Mark Sperring is about Meriam who doesn’t
like getting ready for bed. But as her mom brushes her hair, shells
and other ocean items fall out. They are all hints to the end where
we learn that she is a mermaid.
The illustrations in this book flow across the pages. The picture of Meriam’s tail has been created from a variety of paper, layered on top of each other.
I was inspired to try to copy the mermaid. I began by making a stencil
on styrofoam for the children to paint and print.
Yarn was used for her hair. Old greeting cards and scissors with
scalloped blades were used to make the scales of her tail.
They also cut crabs from a special hole punch and used those to
decorate their pictures.
We also used shell and star shaped sponges to paint the background.
The children’s creations turned out lovelier than I could imagine.
