11 Zoo Animal Crafts Ideas

Zoo animals are so cute! What’s not to love about the adorable bears and elephants that you can see when visiting your local zoo?

There’s something so magical about watching them roam around in their enclosures, chasing each other and playing.

If you’re like me and have kids that love animals, they probably also enjoy watching them at the zoo as well.

But as much fun as it is to go to the zoo and see these amazing creatures up close, I find it even more enjoyable when my kids get creative with crafts inspired by their favorite animals. Today I’ll share some ideas for zoo animal crafts that will help your kids learn about different types of wildlife while having fun making art projects together!

Pop-Up Zoo Animal Cards

Use a paper punch to create a card, like this:
Attach the pieces with a glue stick, like this:
Draw cute animals on the card using markers or crayons (or colored pencils or watercolors!), like this:
Use a hole punch to create a hole for your string or ribbon, like this:
Cut out #2 and #3 with scissors, being careful not to cut too close to any edges where you’ve drawn something on the card; then draw arrows pointing down so that they can’t move around when you fold them into position!

DIY Zoo Animal Costumes

Making a DIY zoo animal costume is a fun way to celebrate World Wildlife Day and it’s also perfect for Halloween.

You can use the template provided in this article or create your own design. Here are some ideas.

For the head, use an empty paper towel roll that has been cut open and taped shut with masking tape.

For the body of your costume, you’ll need three pieces of cardboard that measure 1/4 inch thick (if you prefer to make this more durable, use foam sheets instead). The first piece should be about 6 inches wide by 12 inches long (or whatever size will fit around your shoulders),

the second piece should be about 6 inches wide by 5 inches tall, and the third piece should be about 6 inches wide by 4 inches tall. These pieces should connect at their bases so they form something like a pyramid shape when stacked together vertically (this will resemble an elephant’s trunk).

To finish off your DIY costume, add ears made out of felting circles using our free template below!

Popsicle Stick Elephant & Giraffe

Materials Needed. Popsicle sticks or craft sticks

Paintbrushes
Glue or tape

How To Make Them:

To make your elephant, draw an elephant shape on the popsicle stick with a pencil. Then cut it out using scissors. Next, paint your elephant and let it dry completely before you begin working on the legs and tail.
For giraffes, do steps 1-4 above but don’t add any features just yet! Let’s first decorate our elephants first!

Drop Cloth Lion

This craft is a great way to teach your child about lions. A lion is a very large cat that lives in Africa.

There are many different kinds of lions, but they all have the same body shape and color patterns. Your child can use a drop cloth from the store to make this craft, or you could also find an old bedspread for them to use instead.

You will want to choose either an orange or yellow drop cloth for this project because it will be easier for your child to draw on if it’s bright colored. Once you have chosen your color, have them draw their own face onto the lion using a black marker! Then, they should add noses with red markers and mouths with blue ones!

Giant Zoo Animal Puppet Crafts

If you are looking for a cool way to make your child’s puppet show more exciting, why not try making them giant?

These will be sure to impress the audience as they have never seen puppets this big before. They also can be fun to use as decorations or as part of any zoo-themed party!

Step 1: Take an old sheet and cut it into six equal squares.

Step 2: Sew the squares together along three sides (see picture).

Step 3: Stuff with old clothes or stuffing from a pillow. You may need more than one package, depending on how big you want your puppet!

Step 4: After stuffing, sew up the last side so that it is completely enclosed inside the sackcloth bag and no light can get through. Your elephant puppet is now complete!

Rock Painting Zebra Rocks

Materials.

Zebra rocks, small and large
Paint, black and white (see below for recipe)
Paintbrushes of varying sizes

Easy Paper Plate Zebra Craft for Kids

Use paper plates to make a DIY zebra craft for kids.
You can use the finished product as a puppet or hang it on the wall, or give it to your animal-loving friends as a gift to say thanks for inviting you to their party.
To make this craft, follow these steps.
Cut two paper plates in half and then cut out four more circles from one of them using a cup or apple corer (or another round object). These will serve as ears for your zebra.

Glue these pieces onto the other half of one of your original paper plates so that they form an upside-down ‘V’ shape toward one end of this piece (see photo above).

The middle line should run through where both ears would be if they were facing forward; make sure it’s centered! You can also use double-stick tape instead if you want extra security against falling off while playing with it later on. but I recommend gluing just because then everything stays put even better )

Kid-Made Zebra Crayon Prints

To make zebra crayon prints, you’ll need the following.

A zebra stencil
A piece of paper
A zebra crayon or a zebra print marker (the kind that is all one color)

Take your paper and your stencil and put them on top of each other. Trace over the edges with the marker/crayon until you have a full print!

DIY Easy Lion Crown Craft for Kids (No Sewing)

Materials
Paper
Glue
Scissors
Directions

Cut out a circle from paper and glue the edges for making it into a crown shape. You can either go for a solid black or white color or you can do stripes of different shades of brown, orange, yellow, and black. Make sure that the stripes are even in width throughout the crown so that it looks symmetrical when on your head!

Decorate with markers as per your choice! You can also use stickers such as toys or cartoon characters if you want to make it more interesting for kids who love to play with these things!

Another way to personalize this is by adding sequins or beads at the endpoints where they meet together making sure that they are glued properly before pasting them down otherwise they might fall off easily once worn

Paper Towel Roll Giraffe Craft for Kids

Materials

Paper towel roll
Construction paper or any other type of paper you have at home
Yarn, pipe cleaners, and markers (the construction paper is optional)

DIY Elephant Ears Headband Craft for Kids (No Sewing)

You will need

two pieces of felt in the same color. I used a light blue and an orange. You can also use any other colors you like, just make sure they contrast nicely!
hot glue gun
ribbon or elastic band to hold the headband together (you could even use more felt)

These Zoo Animals Are Great For Kids To Make

These zoo animals are great for kids to make.
The kids will have fun making these zoo animals.
These crafts are great for kids to make because they’re easy and fun!

Conclusion

There you have it: 11 zoo animal crafts that your kids will love to make. Here are some other creative activities for kids. Let the fun begin!