4 Fun Paper Zoo Animal Crafts for Kids

These zoo animal crafts for kids are quick and easy crafts perfect for a zoo themed week of learning, after a trip to the zoo, or a child who loves the zoo. Directions to make a lion, elephant, giraffe, and zebra are included.

To make these zoo-themed crafts you will need a few easy to find materials that you probably already have on hand. You will need construction paper, scissors, glue, and a black pen/marker.

Scroll down for directions on how to make these adorable zoo animal crafts. If you are looking for other themed animal crafts be sure to check out these farm animal themed crafts and under the sea themed crafts as well. They all use the same circular base for the craft and will look great together.

Tips for Success

For this project, you will need to begin by making circles for the animal’s bodies. If you made the farm animal crafts in an earlier post, these were made the same way. You can use a bowl or cup to trace around and make a perfect circle for the body of the animals. I used a child sized bowl for this.

When making the animals with older children you can have them draw and cut out all of the pieces on their own. You can direct them on how to draw them or what shapes they will need to make.

When making the animals with younger grade school age children you can draw the shapes for them and have them practice their cutting skills by cutting them out. Then show or direct them where to glue them. You can also show them the finished project and see if they can figure out where each cut-out piece goes on their own.

When making the zoo animal crafts for preschoolers and toddlers you can prep the pieces ahead of time by drawing and cutting and having everything ready. You can then help or instruct them on how to glue the pieces in the correct places and draw eyes and mouth.

4 Fun Construction Paper Zoo Animal Crafts for Kids

Materials

• Yellow, Orange, Black, White, Blue,  and Brown Construction Paper
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
• Black Pen/Marker

Zoo Animal Lion Craft Directions

 1. Use a bowl to trace a large circle on orange paper for the lion’s mane and cut it out. 

2. Use a smaller cup to trace a medium sized circle onto yellow paper for the lion’s head. The yellow circle should fit nicely inside the orange circle.

3. Glue the yellow circle directly into the middle of the orange circle. 

4. Cut out two yellow semi-circles and glue them on the orange paper, stuck to the top of the yellow circle for the lion’s ears. 

5. Cut slits in the orange paper all the way around the circle to create the hair for the lion’s mane.

6. Cut out a black construction paper heart and glue it to the middle of the yellow paper for the lion’s nose. 

7. Use a black pen/marker to draw a mouth coming off of the bottom of the heart nose. Draw eyes above the heart nose.

Zoo Animal Zebra Craft Directions

 1. Use a bowl to trace a large circle on white construction paper for the zebra’s face.

2. Draw and cut out a medium size black oval to fit onto the bottom of the zebra’s face. Glue it on towards the bottom. It should fit all the way inside of the face. 

3. Cut out 6 small black triangles. Glue three of them in the remaining white space coming off of the left side. Glue the other three in the remaining white space coming off of the right side of the zebra’s face. 

4. Cut out two triangle shaped white ears and glue them to the top of the white face circle.

5. Cut out a small black rectangle to fit in between the zebra’s ears and glue it on. Cut slits into the black rectangle for the zebra’s hair. 

6. Cut out two small white circles and glue them near the middle of the black oval for the zebra’s nostrils. 

7. Using a black pen draw a smile under the nostrils and eyes in the middle of the remaining white space on the face.

Zoo Animal Elephant Craft Directions

 1. Use a bowl to trace a large circle on blue construction paper for the elephant’s face.

2. Cut out two skinnier rectangles with wavy sides from blue paper for the elephant’s ears. Glue the rectangles on each side of the elephant’s face. 

3. Cut out a semi circle the side of the elephant’s face from blue paper. Cut out the middle section of the semi-circle to make it into a trunk shape. 

4. Glue to trunk starting in the middle of the elephant’s face. It should come off of the bottom of the elephant. 

5. Using a black marker or pen draw lines all down the elephant’s trunk. Draw a half mouth shape coming off of the left side of the trunk.

6. With your black pen draw on eyes above the trunk. 

Zoo Animal Giraffe Craft Directions

 1. Use a bowl to trace and cut out a large circle from yellow paper for the giraffe’s head.

2. Cut out two small semi circles from the yellow paper for the giraffe’s ears and glue them to the top of the yellow head circle. 

3. Cut out two small rectangular pieces and glue in between the ears to make the top of the giraffe’s mane. 

4. Cut out a medium oval from brown construction paper and glue on to the bottom of the giraffe’s head for the mouth section. Draw on a mouth and two nostrils with a black pen.

5. Cut out four small brown circles and glue around the top of the giraffe’s head to make its spots. 

6. Draw on eyes with the black pen in the middle of the remaining yellow for the giraffe’s face.