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Creature crafts for kids

Image: Getty | Words: Sara Conway

1 You’re roar-some! Use your child’s fingers to make this lovely lion.

You’ll need: paint, paper, coloured card and glue.

1. Squirt blobs of paint onto a plate for fingers to dip into. We used orange, yellow, red and some gold glitter paint we found lurking in a drawer.
2. Let your child go wild finger painting the lion’s mane.
3. Help them to cut out three paper and card hearts in yellow (biggest), orange (smaller) and red (smallest). Folding the paper helps to cut a symmetrical heart.
4. Help your child to stick the hearts as shown to make the lion’s face.
5. Then get them to paint a little red tongue.
6. Draw eyes on paper, snip them out and stick them on. Or if you have googly eyes, use those.

There you have it… a totally roar-some lion to give to family or a friend.

2 Thanks for helping me grow: Use your child’s handprints to give this butterfly card a personal touch.

You’ll need: paint, paper, card, glue, pompoms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, plus whatever crafty supplies you have to decorate with.

1. Get your child to choose a paint colour and then paint their whole hand.
2. Ask your child to press their hand on paper. If you’re doing this with a toddler, press gently on each finger to get a perfect handprint. Repeat so you’ve got two prints.
3. Snip out the handprints and stick them on card.
4. Use pompoms to create the butterfly’s body.
5. Make two pipe cleaner antennae and glue googly eyes onto them.
6. Then use whatever crafty supplies you have to decorate the butterfly’s wings.

Perfect… why not flutter this butterfly to a teacher at the end of term?

3 ‘Hogs’ & kisses: Help them transform an egg carton into a pig with a special message.

You’ll need: an egg carton, a pink pipe cleaner, a pink pompom, glue, buttons, googly eyes and paper.

It might be easier to prepare steps 1-3 before letting your child loose on this make.

1. Cut a cup from the egg carton and flip it over.
2. Now cut small holes in opposite sides and poke through the pipe cleaner.
3. Twist one end around the pompom (the pig’s head) to hold it in place. Curl the other to make the pig’s tail.
4. Ask your child to glue button feet onto the egg cup (this also balances the weight from the head).
5. Now your child can make the pig’s face by sticking on googly eyes, a button nose and heart-shaped ears.
6. Finally, help them to cut a little red heart from paper, and write the name of the person they’re giving the pig to. We put ours in a little envelope we made from brown paper.

And that’s it! A cute pig who loves to deliver hogs and kisses.

TWO MORE QUICK AND EASY IDEAS….

4 Bee my friend! 

It’s easy to turn a paper plate into a happy little bee!

Give your child a paper plate and ask them to paint the whole thing yellow. Once it’s dry, give them black paper to snip into strips to add stripes and antennae to their bee. Then add googly eyes. Simple!

Now they can give it to someone to make them feel happy!

5 Owl love you forever! 

They’ll have a hoot snipping and sticking to make an owl!

Pre-cut paper shapes for your child to stick and make an owl. Try a big oval for the body, circles for the eyes, triangles for the beak and claws, and teardrops for the wings. They could also snip hearts to make feathers on the body.

Now they can give it to someone with a message that says, “Owl love you forever.”