Animals in Sweaters

I try to incorporate a craft element in my cartooning class sometimes to keep students more engaged. This is what we made! I was inspired by the paper-weaving crafts on Pinterest and decided to make a sweater for my character.

Duration: 90 – 75 min

Materials:
– White paper
– Markers, pencil crayons
– Scissors & Exacto Knife
– Construction paper or coloured cardstock paper
– Optional: Idea Sheet

Students picked an animal that they liked and drew it with a sweater. I then helped them to carve out vertical lines in the sweater so that they could weave in strips of coloured paper. 

Felt Coasters

From time to time, I like to incorporate a sewing project and I thought it would be nice to make something small that my students would keep and use – a coaster! Art IDEA posted a Youtube tutorial on how to make a cat coaster. It actually is really simple and my students had fun making their own animals.

Duration: 2 – 2.5 hrs

Materials:
– Felt 
– Sewing thread and needles
– Scissors
– Cotton stuffing
– Chalk or wax pencil (for drawing on the felt)

The tutorial is just 4 min so give it a watch! It highlights how to draw the shapes of the animal parts. First you draw them on paper, then trace them onto the felt. Each part will have 2 sides which you need to sew together (only adding stuffing inside the head). With some knowledge and practise in sewing, you’ll come up with your very own coaster in no time!

Animal-themed Stationery Holder

Do you collect tissue rolls? If you do, here’s a fun craft that involves some painting and drawing for your little one. It can also be turned into a stationery holder! 

Duration: 50 – 75 min

Materials: 
– Min. of 4 tissue rolls
– Paint 
– Cardstock paper
– Optional decor (stickers, buttons, sequins…)
– Hot glue

Before the art session, I cut out a shape for the base and hot-glued 4 tissue rolls on top. Then, I asked students to think of an animal (it was originally a snail) and then paint the rolls. Afterwards, they cut out an animal head with cardstock paper and added other decorations. There are lots of variations to this craft, I’ve even seen really long ones!

Outgoing Ostriches

Happy Friday everyone! I just came up with a fun craft that incorporates some drawing, cutting and a bit of paper collage in the background. Here it is!

Each child will have different ideas for the background, so this is a flexible activity that may take longer for some of them to complete. The clouds are made of colourful tissue paper circles, but you can add anything you like to make the artwork look nice!

Duration: 30 – 45 min

Materials:
– Markers
– Black Pen/Sharpie
– Construction Paper 
– Feathers
– Tissue Paper 

Rainbow Giraffes

“There are people who can achieve huge success in life, while adding a bit of fun and a splash of colour to this increasingly grey world.” -Peter James

Check out these cute giraffes, a fun activity to start off the day! All you need to give your students is a pre-cut giraffe figure with yellow and pink construction paper. Then, you can prepare smaller rectangles of different colours for your little ones to cut into small strips. Dont’ forget the spots too- Glitter or scrunched up tissue paper would look amazing : )

Duration: 15-30 min

Materials:
– Assorted Construction Paper
– Black Permanent Marker
– Tissue Paper
– Glue

Earth Day Foxes

Looking for a simple animal craft activity? Take a look at these cute foxes that we made on Earth day! All you need is some assorted construction paper and pre-cut blue circles for the earth. You can also add a tree or plant beside the character to give it more context and colour.

Duration: 20 – 40min

Materials:
– Construction Paper
   -> Body (orange, black, white)
   -> Earth (blue)
   ->Tree/Plant (brown and other colours)
– Green Tissue Paper
– Glue

My Friendly Lion

“Intelligence entails a strong mind, but genius entails a heart of a lion in tune with a strong mind.” – Criss Jami (Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality)

How about a craft featuring the king of the jungle? 🙂 Making your friendly lion will involve fun painting techniqes and also working with fabric. 

Duration: 45 min- 1 hour

Materials: 
– 1 large paper plate
– Watercolour or acrylic paint
– Black Marker
– Cardboard Paper 
– Fabric (felt, cloth, something furry!)
– Construction paper (orange and yellow)
– Q-tips
– White glue

In this project, I gave each student a pre-cut lion body which was made out of cardboard paper. This way, the lion head will have more support when put together and students can easily decorate the body with construction paper or fabric of their choice. My favourite part about this craft is that children can use Q-tips and paint their own decorations (dots or patterns) on the lion’s head. 

Here are some vibrant examples!