Le Cirque Bleu / Notes

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The construction of Le Cirque Bleu is really very simple.

The primary materials include colored mat board, foam core board, some odd bits of balsa or bass wood and wooden dowels of a couple different diameters, velcro® pieces, and a few "found objects" such as the plastic spools that ribbon came on.

Tools required include hobby knives, Elmer's® glue, spray adhesive, a small hand or electric drill, and a fine-toothed saw.

I will add drawings to this page eventually, and go into construction techniques in greater detail, but you really can simply make it up as you go. The idea is to suggest a circus tent by the shape of end walls of a three-sided box with a floor. On the floor, lay or draw rings. Use dowels to build central posts. Build an overhead grid for aerial acts. Tie them together with wire or string. Use Velcro strips or glue to hold walls together. Find or draw crowd pictures and paste them on the wall or build little "grandstands".

For decoration, collect all the circus and animal pictures you can find and use them to make signs and posters.

Add all the animals and human or cartoon character figures your budget can afford (buy them now and then throughout the year) or dig whatever you can find out of your children's toy chests. Suitable animals and characters can be found in many toy and discount stores. Look also in zoo gift shops.

Theme parks and related shops are full of figures. Look for items from Sea World®, Disney®, and Warner Brothers® in particular. Every time there's a new Disney film, there's a flood of little toy figures that could populate your circus. Look, too, for Playmobil® toys from Germany - they make many excellent circus items (these may not be suitable for very young children, however, due to the number of small parts). And don't forget The Smurfs®. Our children had collected so many during the early 80's that we had to name Le Cirque Bleu in their honor.

In addition to plans, I'll add some art that you can use to decorate with. Here's something to start with.

Popcorn! Peanuts! Guest Passes!

If you'd like to make bags of popcorn and peanuts for your circus, print our Popcorn and Peanuts labels. Cut them out, fold them in half, and staple or clip them to zip locking bags.

To make passes for friends and family, print our Guest Pass, glue it to some sturdier paper if you like, and cut it out.

That's all for now. Good luck building your own circus and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year from all of us at Chateau Meddybemps^TM!

Jerry Jindrich