Turtle Eggs and Walnut Turtles Materials Needed: Celia Sea Turtle and Snapper the Snapping Turtle silhouettes Small round balloons, only slightly inflated Papier mache (Tear newspapers into strips and wet in water and flour paste) Poster paint or crayons Walnuts in the shell Construction paper Tracing paper Glue or paste Shallow cardboard box, such as shoe box, or aluminum baking pan Sand, sand paper/or shredded green paper Directions: Completely cover balloons with papier mache and let them dry. Paint balloons white when dry(Turtles don't need to camouflage their eggs because they bury them). Trace pattern of turtle onto tracing paper, cut out and transfer to construction paper to make several turtles (Sea turtles may lay 100 eggs; snapping turtles usually 20-30) Break walnut shells in half and glue empty shells onto construction paper. Paint shells. Add eyes. For sea turtles, create beach scene in shoe box with sand and/or sandpaper. For snapping turtle, create pond scene by drawing in water and partially burying eggs in shredded green paper on "land". Cut several eggs in half so it looks as if they're hatching. Have them heading for pond or ocean. Make up a story of the hatchling's first day. Adapted from New England Aquarium's"Stick Your Neck Out" exhibit. Also check out our Turtle Convention and Sock Puppet activities. Move on to Turtle Species Gulf of Maine Research Institute Home Page All About Turtles Home Page Updated April 29, 2008. Copyright 2008, Gulf of Maine Research Institute Please email comments and questions to Turtles@octopus.gma.org