This is a really simple way to make a playing piece based on a dung beetle.
We used a small ball of clay which we flattened a little. Then we used a sharp twig (a blunt knife would do) to draw in details. We drew the outlines of wings, legs and head.
You could make a whole set of dung beetle playing pieces really quickly this way, perhaps painting each one a different colour?
Ru and I based this little (3cm long) clay model on an ancient Egyptian scarab dung beetle.
We looked at how Egyptian models of scarab beetles were modelled with their legs tucked in, or with legs just drawn onto the side of the piece of clay.
This means that the playing piece is a nice smooth round shape. It doesn’t have any thin or breakable legs, and is much easier to make and play with! We are looking forward to our clay dung beetle drying so we can paint it.