Create an At-Home Safari!

Artful Animal Menagerie

With paper, glue, paints, crayons and the recycle bin, your child can create a menagerie of animals at home.

Gentle Giraffe: Cut out the shape of a giraffe on yellow construction paper and let your child put spots on it with a bingo marker or ink stamp.

Slithering Snake: Your children can make a snake out of a paper plate. First, draw a line that goes around and around from the edge to the middle and stops. Next, invite your youngster to sponge paint the plate (dab, dab, dab) with green and brown poster paints. When dry, you or the kids can cut on the line (lots of curves) to make a spiral. Punch a hole at the top, thread in a piece of string and hang the snake. It will wiggle and cause lots of giggles!

Zebra Stripes: Draw and cut out a horse-shape from white construction paper. Using black poster paint, invite the children to marble paint this animal. Do this by placing the paper shape in a baking pan. Tape it down on the bottom of the pan with a rolled piece of tape. Coat a couple marbles with black paint and then place them into the pan. Your kids can tilt the pan back and forth, letting the balls roll over the animal. Children love to see the horse turn into a zebra. As a variation, Ping-Pong balls can be used.

Thumbprint Monkeys: Give your children a piece of construction paper with the outline of a tree drawn on it (older children can draw their own tree). Set out inkpads and felt-tip makers. Let your kids make thumbprint monkeys all over their tree picture. To create monkeys, have them press a thumb on an inkpad and make two thumb prints, one above the other on the paper. Then complete the monkeys by adding faces, arms, legs and tails with the markers.

What other animals can you create with your child? Leopards with painted-on spots? Polar bears made from cotton balls? Use your imaginations and enjoy your animal adventures together!