View source for Press Out and Colour: Birds by Zoe Ingram

{{infobox2
|title=Press Out and Colour: Birds
|author=Zoe Ingram
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crafts
|summary=Colour and build ten beautiful birds which you could use as festive decorations - or all year round. A real pleasure.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=No
|pages=24
|publisher=Nosy Crow
|date=September 2016
|isbn=978-0857637673
|website=http://www.zoeingram.com/
|video=
|aznuk=0857637673
|aznus=0857637673
|cover=0857637673
}}

Ten beautiful birds which start life as detailed line illustrations by Zoe Ingram are then coloured in by anyone of any age who is capable of having reasonable control of a felt-tip pen or a crayon.  You've got to remember to do both the back and the front and whilst it would be nice if they matched it's in no way essential.  If you're skillful, so much the better, but the designs are decorated with foil which catches the light and gives that sheen which you see on the edges of birds' feathers.  When you've finished colouring you gently press the pieces out from the page.  I experimented with pressing them out first and then colouring, but the pieces were easier to colour actually in the page.

Then you can assemble the birds.  If you look carefully you'll see some little slits which you need to push out and then it's fairly obvious how the bird fits together.  The owl and the peacock have four pieces, the other eight birds have just three and they all assemble very quickly and with no fuss.  You'll find a small hole which is the hanging point - some of the birds had the hole punched through, but others simply needed a small piece of card pressing out.  I used the blunt end of a darning needle.  Well, it had to be useful for something!  With some chord attached the birds can be hung: I suspended one in front of a window which was slightly open and the effect was excellent.

The birds could be used as Christmas decorations, but I see no reason why I shouldn't have the pleasure all year round.  If you do want to use them as festive decorations, you could disassemble them and press them back into the book for easy storage.  The card is substantial and will stand quite a bit of handling - and if you didn't want to colour the birds they do look rather good as they come out of the book.

My favourite bird is the hummingbird - that long beak is captured perfectly.  The cockatoo is the most fun to colour: you can be quite adventurous and still have a realistic result!  You can complete a bird in a lazy, relaxing afternoon and feel that you've achieved something quite wonderful.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

For more Christmas projects we can recommend [[Christmas Paper Play by Lydia Crook]].  If you'd like to build dinosaurs, try [[Excavate! Dinosaurs: Paper Toy Paleontology by Jonathan Tennant, Vladamir Nikolov and Charlie Simpson]].  We also had a great deal of fun with [[Pattern Play: Cut, Fold and Make Your Own 3D Animal Models by Danielle Kroll and Nghiem Ta]].

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[[Category:Children's Non-Fiction]]