Painting Dala Horses
In the old days in Sweden, woodcarvers would spend the long nights of winter making wooden toys for their children, especially horses called Dala or Dalcarlian. They based them on their farm horses – the trusty animals who dragged in timber from the forest and helped on the farm. The first toy Dala horses were sold in 1623. The Dala wooden horses are still made today and have become a symbol of Sweden. They are handmade of pine and the details are hand painted. The most common colour is red with a harness of flowers in white, yellow, green and blue.
Let’s paint some Dala horses.
Materials
Cardboard (you can use an old box or a cereal carton)
Tracing paper
Scissors
Old newspaper
Craft paint in bright colours
Jars
Paint brushes
Pom-poms
Glue
Embroidery yarn (optional)
Directions
Trace the Dala horse template. Ask an adult to cut it out and use it to cut the shape of the horses from the cardboard (cardboard can be quite hard to cut through).
Cover a table with newspaper and wear old clothes in case you make a mess.
Fill the jars with different colours of paint.
Get to work painting your horses.
You can use the sample picture to give you an idea – but you can paint your horses exactly the way you like.
You can use pom-poms to create a mane.
If you like, you can glue on yarn to make a tail.
Put your finished Dala horses on newspaper to dry.
