A birthday train decorated with craft paint, a Silk Clay number and Silk Clay animals

1 Paint stripes on one of the carriages. Determine the width of each stripe by measuring the length of the carriage and then divide by your chosen number of stripes.

2 Paint the other two carriages and the train with your chosen craft paint colours. Leave to dry.

3 Use the templates from the attached PDF file. Copy the triangles, semi circles and balloons onto the carriages and paint. Add dots and outline the painted balloons with a black marker pen.

4 Model numbers from Silk Clay. The numbers 1 and 2: Roll out two sausages, twist them together and model the number. Roll a sausage for the chimney to hold the number and push the two together. Adjust it to fit onto the train and leave it to dry on the table.

5 Roll out a ball of yellow Silk Clay for the giraffe's head. Model the nose and push small holes for the eyes and the nostrils. Pull the Silk Clay slightly before rolling out the head and the body; this makes the end result slightly smoother. Model ears and attach them onto the head. Model small narrow triangles from pink Silk Clay and attach onto the inside of the ears. Roll out two small yellow Silk Clay sausages for the ossicones (horns) and two small balls of pink Silk Clay for attaching onto the ends of the ossicones. Roll out more pink Silk Clay balls, attach them onto the giraffe's head for its spots.

6 Roll out balls of yellow Silk Clay for the arms and legs as well as four small balls of pink Silk Clay. Attach these onto the arms and legs. Score a line in the pink balls for the giraffe's hooves. Roll out a ball of yellow Silk Clay, pull and roll it out for the body and the neck. Roll out small balls of pink Silk Clay and attach these onto the giraffe's body, pushing them flat for its spots.

7 Assemble the body and put the giraffe in one of the carriages. Leave to dry.

8 Roll out a ball of blue Silk Clay for the elephant's head. Pull/shape its trunk. Make two small holes in the trunk. Pull the Silk Clay slightly before rolling out the head and the body; this makes the end result slightly smoother. Roll out two balls from blue Silk Clay and push them flat for the ears. Now roll out two small balls of pink Silk Clay, push them flat and attach them onto the blue ears. Attach the ears onto the head. Roll out another ball of blue Silk Clay, pull/roll it for the body. Roll out blue Silk Clay sausages for the arms and legs. Model them thinner in one end for attaching onto the body.

9 Assemble the body, the head, then arms and the legs. Hang the elephant on the edge on the inside of one of the train carriages and leave it hanging there to dry.

Template Print the template here.