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The story of the Nutcracker Prince is an enchanting Christmas classic written by E.T.A Hoffman. It's a story of adventure, romance and bravery.

The story is about a young girl called Clara, who dreams of becoming a ballerina. Her uncle gives her a small nutcracker doll. He told her the tale of the doll and how he had once been a real boy, but the wicked mouse queen had transformed him into a Nutcracker - Prince of the dolls. During the night all Clara's dolls come to life and she finds herself in the middle of an adventure and a war between her toys and the Mouse King. Read the book or watch the film of the Nutcracker Prince, and see what happens.

To make the Nutcracker Prince and Clara you will need...
Two dolly pegs, felt tip pens, paint, PVA glue, black card and a small amount of ribbon and lace.

To make the Nutcracker price doll, paint the main body red but leave a triangle at the top to look like he's wearing a jacket. Paint the tips of the peg black to represent his shoes. Paint the head of the peg with short hair.

Draw on the Nutcrackers face with felt tip pens once the paint is dry. And give him some buttons.

To make his hat cut a long thin strip of black card and roll it up tight to make a solid cylinder. Glue the end down. Cut out a 'D' shape of black card to make a peak for the hat. Stick the 'D' on the nutcracker's head, and stick the roll of card on top of that and leave to one side to dry.

To make Clara the ballerina, paint the body of the peg the colour of Clara's ballerina dress. Paint the tips of the peg the colour of Clara's ballerina shoes and add some 'X' up the peg legs for the ballet shoe ribbons. Paint some brown hair on the peg head and draw on a face with felt tip pens when the paint is dry.

Use a piece of ribbon or lace to Finnish the ballerina dress. You will need the ribbon or lace to be the same length as the peg. Sew a row of small running stitches up one of the long edges. Draw up the thread so that the fabric ruffles to form a skirt. Wrap it around the peg and tack the two ends of fabric together. Hold the skirt in place on the peg with a small amount of glue.

Peg the decorations on the branches of the Christmas tree. But be careful, they might come to life in the middle of the night!