In preparation for World Wildlife Day on March 3rd, we are making animals from around the world. This week we are making one animal from every continent.  It was difficult to select only seven out of the hundreds of animal craft projects that we have. If you are looking for a particular animal, please use the search bar at the bottom of the page.

This is a great opportunity not only for your little artist to learn about these animals, but also to learn that there are seven continents in the world. It is also a wonderful way to practice counting to seven. Your little artist is going to learn so much this week with these projects! Let’s get started with our trip around the world though animal art.

We are going to start with the ‘Mother Land’, Africa. This continent is full of wonderful animals. I’m sure you’ll see a lot of African animals at your local zoos, but not many have our first animal, a cheetah. Your little artists will refine their small motor skills using a pencil eraser to give this cheetah his spots.

CHEETAH

Supplies:

1. Copy of cheetah
2. Cotton swab
3. Black stamp pad

Directions:

1. Print copy of cheetah.
2. Dab cotton swab onto stamp pad.
3. Dab inked swab to make dots on cheetah.

From Africa, let’s travel north to Europe. Europe has such a unique variety of animals. It was fun reading about them. But we decided to pick an animal most kids around the world will recognize with Santa Claus, a reindeer.

REINDEER

Supplies:

1. Construction paper
2. Pencil
3. Scissors
4. Glue stick
5. Red puff ball
6. Google eyes
7. Toilet paper tube

Directions:

1. Trace and cut out two brown children’s handprints.
2. Glue the handprints to the back of toilet paper tube.
3. Glue the eyes and puff balls to the front to make a face.

Now we will travel east from Europe to the Continent of Asia. While Asia is the native home of peacocks, now this beautiful animal lives all around the world.  Did you know they were once used as guard animals? Yes, they have a high pitched call for ‘help’ that helped to alarm homeowners of someone or something coming.

PEACOCK

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Supplies:

1. Peacock pattern
2. Paper plate
3. Blue paint
4. Teal paint
5. Toilet paper tube
6. Glue
7. Scissors
8. Sponges
9. Small paper plate

Directions:

1. Print out peacock.
2. Cut paper plate in half.
3. Pour a small amount of green and blue paint onto small plate. It is OK to let the colors mix.
4. Use sponge to paint peacock and the half paper plate.
5. When dry, cut out pieces.
6. Glue head to toilet paper tube.
7. Then glue tail to the other side of toilet paper tube.

Next we travel south to Australia. It is with a heavy heart I write about this continent, because it has experienced such heartbreak with the recent wild fires. We are sending our love to this extremely unique continent. Today we are making a little-known, adorable animal – the quokka.

QUOKKA

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Supplies:

1. Copy of quokka
2. Construction paper
3. Scissors
4. Glue stick
5. Crayons or Markers

Directions:

1. Print copy of quokka onto construction paper.
2. Cut out.
3. Select “Huggable” item.
4. Color and cut out item.
5. Glue item onto quokka.
6. Fold arms over item.

Heading south out of Australia, we are on our way to the continent of ice and snow. Any guesses? Antarctica! It is the home of our wonderful penguins.

PENGUIN

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Supplies:

1. Copy of penguin
2. Crayons or Markers
3. Safety scissors

Directions:

1. Print penguin.
2. Color.
3. Cut out.

Let’s head north to the Amazon continent. (No, not the shopping company. Ha!) We are talking about South America. It seems as though every month scientists are discovering something new in the rainforest. We dove into the Amazon River to find this X-ray fish craft project.

X-RAY FISH

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Supplies:

1. Copy of X-ray fish
2. Parchment paper
3. Glue stick
4. 1″ Hole punch

Directions:

1. Print copy of X-ray fish.
2. Use hole punch on parchment paper.
3. Glue parchment circles onto fish to make ‘scales’.

We travel even farther north to our last continent, North America. This diverse continent has so many unique animals, but we chose the buffalo. This fun textural project uses llama fiber. Your little artist can learn about two animals in this one project.

BUFFALO

Supplies:

1. Copy of buffalo
2. Fiber
3. Glue

Directions:

1. Print copy of buffalo.
2. Glue fiber onto buffalo.

There you have it, a trip around the world! I’m exhausted, and I didn’t even pack a suitcase! I hope you have enjoyed making all of these projects with your favorite ‘little animal’. If you make one or all seven projects, we know you are sure to tell your little one, “You’re so creative!”