We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo… How about you, you, you?

My youngest is sooo excited that we’re going to the zoo next week that she keeps singing that song over and over again… bless her little heart.  Sorry if that title was a bit annoying, but I though that if I shared it maybe I could get it out of my head!!!

We’re planning the picnic lunch, mapping out the zoo, planning out each animal stop… you’d think we’d never been to the zoo before.  I think the kids are just excited because we’ve planned our homeschool field trip to be the same day that public starts in our area.

Anyway, I thought I’d post some fun zoo crafts today in case anyone else could use them.

Paper Plate Monkey - Supplies: A paper plate, brown paint, brown construction paper, tan construction paper, glue, and this template. Directions: Paint your paper plate brown and let dry. Use the template below to cut out the ears and face of the monkey out of tan colored construction paper. (If you want, you could just paint on the face using the template.) Glue the ears onto the back of the paper plate and glue the face on the front. Use a marker to draw in the eyes, nose and mouth.

Giraffe Paper Bag Puppet - Print out one of the giraffe templates ( color - or - black and white). Color the giraffe, if necessary, and cut out the 2 parts. Glue the giraffe’s head to the bottom of a small lunch-sized paper bag. Lift up the fold and glue in the neck of the giraffe so that when you put your hand inside the bag it looks like the giraffe has a head on top of a neck.

Paper Plate Elephant - Paint the back of a paper plate gray (or any other color you choose) and let dry. Print out the black and white or color template. Color the parts, if necessary, and cut out the pieces. Glue or staple the ears onto the plate on opposite edges. Make sure you put the ears behind the plate so the tabs don’t show. Glue on the trunk and eyes.

Monkey Puppet - Print out the monkey template in color or black and white. Color the parts if necessary and cut them out. Cut out 4 strips of brown construction paper that are about 1 inch wide and 11-12 inches long. Take each of your strips of paper and fold them like an accordian so that when they are folded they are about an inch square. These are the monkey’s arms and legs. Glue a hand or foot to the end of each accordian strip. Glue the monkey’s head onto it’s body. Glue each of the arms and legs onto the right spot on the body. You can turn this monkey into a funny puppet by gluing a craft stick to the back.

Paper Plate Snakes - Paint both sides of a paper plate green. Let dry. Cut plate starting at outer edge and spiraling towards the center. Stop cutting when you get about 4 or 5 inches from the center. The center of the plate will be the snake’s head. Make eyes on your snake with a marker or glue on wiggle eyes. You can also glue on some red curly ribbon for a tongue.