a PATCH animal

This is a lovely animal project I once did many years ago when I was still a teacher in training.  Our teacher started with the next story:

Once upon a time there was a poor boy who lived with his mother in a little house.  His father died many years ago and it was very hard to make ends meet.  His mother tried her best, and she managed to get some food on the table every day, even if it was just some bread.
The boy had to walk to the town every morning to go to school, it was a long walk every day! 
At school many of his friends talked about their pets.  Cats, dogs, some had rabbits, ...  The boy went home and asked his mother if he could get a pet too.
His mother told him that a pet cost money and that it has to eat, so they couldn't afford it.
The boy was very sad!
To make him feel better his mother made a patch animal out of old rags and pieces of cloth she could spare.
She worked all night and in the morning the boy had a stuffed animal made out of patches.  He was very happy with it.
He played a lot with his new friend.
One night he was looking at the stars with his stuffed, patched animal when he saw a falling star and made his wish: "Please let my stuffed animal come to life".  He fell asleep under the moon and the stars holding his stuffed pet.
In the morning the boy woke up by something itching his nose.  He opened his eyes and saw his stuffed animal alive and well, still made out of patches, but moving and making funny noises!
His wish came true!  His stuffed, patched animal was alive! 
So you see, some wishes can come true!


After this story he asked us to design our own patched animal and to color it with colored pencils in as many mixed colors as possible.