This week we picked the wooden spoon friends inspired by Alexander’s Girard’s beautiful wooden dolls that he made for his family in 1963. We followed the instructions in the book step by step so some of the spoon friends are identical apart from two, the girl with the blond plates and Didier Drogba – for those who are not familiar with the name he is a footballer who plays for Chelsea and my son’s favourite player – you can spot the blue spoon with a hint of the Chelsea lion in the hat.

This is a very easy craft to do with young kids or for older children to do on their own. All you need is 6 unfinished wooden spoons, acrylic paints, brushes, masking tape and a shoe box for the stand.

Decide what your spoon is going to look like and working from the top mask off the stripes with the tape and start painting. Wait until the paint is dry before removing the tape to avoid smudging. This is going to take some time so it’s a good idea to work on all the spoons at once rotating from one to the next. When the spoons are fully painted and dry, add facial details to personalize them. To make the stand for the wooden spoon dolls, paint a small shoe box with your favourite colours and leave to dry; then cut Xs with a sharp knife where you want your dolls to stand. Kids working alone should always ask for the help of an adult for this final step.

Check back next Monday for another great craft from the Kid Made Modern, which is going to involve textiles.