Lion Crafts – Fierce & Beautiful Creatures

No matter how old your child is, there is a good chance that they love lions ““ these amazing creatures are fierce, beautiful, and powerful creatures that most children adore, and they can also make cute and cuddly crafts to have fun with.Lions use bright colors that often appeal to children, and you can make them with simple shapes to keep crafts easy even for little ones. Let’s look at some top lion craft ideas.

Toilet Tube Lion

Toilet Tube LionSource: https://masandpas.com/proud-paper-roll-lions/Toilet tubes are a great crafting material for any parent; they are free, easy to decorate, and allow you to make 3D crafts without spending hours on construction. Your child will love these toilet tube lions, and you can make several different kinds. Consider cutting a tube in half to create a lion cub as well as the adult lions!

Materials

You are going to need:

  • 1 empty toilet tube
  • Pencil
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Red, orange, or yellow yarn (or a mixture of colors)
  • Yellow card
  • Black pen
  • Googly eyes
  • Yellow paint
  • Paintbrush

Step 1: Paint The Toilet Tube

First of all, help your child to paint the toilet tube a nice bright yellow. You can also wrap it in yellow paper, if you prefer. Try and get an even coat of paint so that your lion looks neat.Set the tube aside to dry once it has been painted.

Step 2: Draw A Face

While the tube is drying, help your child to draw a lion’s face onto the yellow card. This can be a very simple circle with two triangular ears, or an older child can spend a bit more time shaping the face.When they’ve finished the face, help them to cut it out. Draw a nose and a mouth, and then outline the insides of the ears, but don’t add the googly eyes yet. Your child can also draw around the face with a black pen to make it stand out more.

Step 3: Create The Mane

Next, your child is going to make the lion’s mane. This is often the most fun part! Get them to choose which color yarn they want to use, or create a mixture.Your child should cut some lengths of the yarn, about an inch long. They are then going to turn the lion’s face over so that the blank side faces them, and start gluing the yarn in a circle around the edge.They want to make a full circle so that the lion has a complete mane going around its head. Doing a mix of colors can be fun.If you’re crafting with a child who’s too young to do this (it does require some patience), you can cut some wider strips out of colored cards for the mane instead, and they can glue these around in a circle. This will make it much faster, but for older children, the yarn lends the craft a nice texture.Leave this to dry.

Step 4: Add A Tail And Paws

To make the lion’s tail, cut another length of yarn. Tie a knot in one end, and then tie another knot about a centimeter in from the other end. You can then help your child to glue this to the toilet tube once it has dried, a little way from the bottom.Use the tip of a pencil to fluff up the unknotted end of the yarn, or rub it between your fingers. This will create a tuft at the end of the lion’s tail.Next, get your child to draw some paws at the bottom of the toilet tube. They can also cut these out of yellow cards if they would like to make the lion more complicated. Draw legs up the tube, and a curved line to represent the hind legs, with a paw on each side at the bottom.It’s a good idea for your child to draw these lightly in pencil first, so they can erase them if they make a mistake. When they’re happy with it, they can go over the lines in black pen.

Step 5: Add The Head

Once the glue on the head has dried, it can be stuck to the top of the toilet tube, and the googly eyes can now be glued into place to finish off the lion. If your child wants to, they can tease out the wool mane and fluff it up a bit as they did with the tail, or they can leave it as it is.

Pipe Cleaner Lion

Pipe Cleaner LionSource: https://www.coloradoparent.com/paper-roll-lion/ This is a nice simple craft that can be really fun if your child likes working with pipe cleaners. If you use tissue paper, it will also filter the light nicely through the mane, which is a lovely effect if you want to hang the craft in the window.

Materials

To make a pipe cleaner lion, you will need:

  • Yellow card
  • Googly eyes
  • Glue
  • Black pen
  • Red, orange, and yellow pipe cleaners
  • Glue gun
  • Scissors
  • Red, orange, and yellow tissue paper

Step 1: Cut Out The Lion’s Face

Again, you can get your child to draw a very simple circle for the lion’s face; it doesn’t need to be complicated for the craft to look great. They may want to draw around a saucer or plate to get a good circle. Don’t let them forget to add the ears at the top (though these can be stuck on later if they do).Once they have finished cutting the circle out, help them to stick the googly eyes on, and then draw a nose and a smiling face. Add some whiskers with a white pen if you have one, or a black pen or a pencil if not.

Step 2: Create The Mane

You’re going to be using pipe cleaners to make the lion’s mane. These you will want to be cut short, and then bent around to form “V” shapes, though with slightly soft curves; they don’t need very sharp angles. Get your child to make larger and smaller “V” shapes, and use a glue gun to stick them to the back of the lion’s face in a circle. Try to vary the colors so you don’t end up with two of any color next to each other.

Step 3: Add Tissue

Next, your child should take some sheets of tissue and tear or cut rough “V” pieces into it. They will want to use some of every color to give the lion’s mane lots of different hues.When they’ve got enough tissue torn up, they can start to glue it to the back of the pipe cleaner mane. Using lots of different colors will make this very effective, especially if they stick yellow tissue against a red pipe cleaner, etc.Once they have finished adding tissue, set the lion aside to dry. When all the glue has set, trim any bits of tissue that are sticking out, and then add a loop of string or colorful yarn and hang the lion up somewhere he will catch the light.

Conclusion

You can create some amazing lion crafts with your child, and they don’t have to be complicated to be fun! Let your child’s imagination run wild and encourage them to try out different ideas for making their lions look amazing.

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