Archive for the ‘animal crafts’ Category

Coffee filter turkey craft

Saturday, November 19th, 2011

turkey craft

Coffee filter turkey

This Thanksgiving turkey is easy to make with a coffee filter and some construction paper. I was going to spray on the food coloring, but we couldn’t find my spray bottle and just dripped some on instead. You could also moisten the coffee filter and draw on it with water-based markers such as those by Crayola.

What You Need: 1 coffee filter; food coloring (or markers, etc.); brown, red, and orange construction paper; two googly eyes; scissors; glue.

How to Make It: Drip or spray food coloring onto wet coffee filter. Or, use markers. Set aside to dry on a paper towel. Cut turkey shape (kind of like a peanut) from brown construction paper. Cut out and add orange beak and red wattle. Glue on googly eyes. Once coffee filter feathers are dry, glue turkey body to it.

Toilet paper roll handprint turkey

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

tp roll turkey

TP roll turkey craft

Here’s a fun turkey craft that involves the whole family. I’ve seen several variations recently on Pinterest. We traced Dad’s hand, Mom’s hand, and our son’s hand to make the feathers. A perfect craft for Thanksgiving!

What You Need: 1 toilet paper roll; yellow, orange, and red construction paper; pencil (for tracing); scrap of red paper (for wattle); scrap of orange paper (for beak); 2 googly eyes; glue; scissors.

How to Make It: Trace each family member’s handprint and cut out. Glue, staggered, on top of each other as shown. Glue set to back of toilet paper roll. Cut out wattle and beak (folded or just a triangle) and glue toward top of roll. Glue on eyes.

Flamingo heart Valentine

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Flamingo Valentine

Flamingo Valentine

One of my son’s school friends made him this sweet heart-shaped flamingo Valentine. It’s fun to bend the legs and neck and “pose” the flamingo!

What You Need: Pink pipe cleaners; pink cardstock or construction paper; pink patterned paper (optional); heart shaped template or punch (or freehand or trace a heart); black marker; googly eye; glue.

How to Make It: Cut out two hearts that are the same size. Bend pipe cleaner as shown to make neck and legs (for a large flamingo, you may need two pipe cleaners; for a small one you’ll want to cut one apart). Glue two hearts together, securing the pipe cleaners in the process. Cut two head shapes (an adult may want to make a template for the kids). Use black marker to make bill. Glue on googly eye(s). Glue head pieces together at the end of the neck. Bend pipe cleaners to position head and legs. Child can write name or Valentine message on one side of the flamingo.

Barnyard Animal Bookends

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Farm animal bookends

Farm animal bookends

Each child will end up with a completely different set of bookends when they pick their favorite farm animals in this easy barnyard bookends craft. Be sure to have a large assortment of animals on hand!

What You Need: 2 wood blocks (sanded, or older children can sand their own); 8 craft sticks; wood glue or another stong but safe glue (supervise children carefully); acrylic paints; brushes; assorted plastic farm animals and accessories.

How to Make It: Paint wood blocks green for grass (or yellow for hay, or any color they’d like!). Paint craft sticks white or brown. Let dry. Glue sticks into fence shape as shown. Let dry. Glue to wood block. Repeat for other bookend. Arrange animals in barnyard scene and adhere with glue.

Bookworm bookmark

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Worm bookmark

Worm bookmark

Kids can practice their cutting skills while making a cute gift: this easy bookmark shaped like a worm or caterpillar.

What You Need: Craft foam in bright colors; medium pompom; short length of pipe cleaner; 2 small pompoms; durable circle punch or quarter (to trace around); foam glue; scissors.

How to Make It: Punch out circles, or trace around a quarter with pencil and cut out the circles (littler kids may need some help with this). Glue circles together, overlapping slightly. Glue medium pompom to top circle. Cut 2 approximately 1-inch lengths of pipe cleaner for antennae and glue behind top circle. Glue small pompoms to ends of pipe cleaners. Optional; add googly eyes.