Easy Acrobat Circus Craft for Kids (Free Printable Template)
This acrobat circus craft is the perfect way to finish our Circus Craft collection. Let your child design a unique costume for their trapeze artist as they imagine them flying through the air like a real circus performer. Make several acrobats and pretend they are performing tricks together in an exciting circus show.
I absolutely love crafts that encourage imaginative play and keep kids entertained for hours!
Earlier, we created an entire Circus Collection of Characters starting with a simple triangle popsicle stick frame. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can find the instructions HERE. The characters turned out so cute, but there was still one performer missing from the circus lineup—because you can never really run out of fun circus character ideas!
If you enjoy making this Acrobat Circus Craft, you’re also going to love this Circus Animal Craft, these Circus Themed Coloring Pages and this Printable Thumbprint Circus Craft!
Save this circus craft for later! Pin it to your favorite Pinterest board…
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? Fun Circus Facts for Kids
• The modern circus became popular in the 1700s and featured acrobats, clowns, and animal performers.
• Acrobat and trapeze performances are some of the most exciting parts of a circus show because they show strength, balance, and bravery.
• Many famous circus-style performances today are inspired by shows from Cirque du Soleil, which is known for combining circus arts with storytelling.
• Traditional circus shows were once performed in traveling tents that moved from town to town.
• Circus performers spend years practicing to master their tricks and routines safely.
Combine Reading with Creativity
The only thing better than making crafts is combining creating with reading a good book on the same topic. It’s a great way to also encourage a love of reading.
We’re so glad to have you here at In the Bag Kids’ Crafts! Our mission is to help you make crafting with your kiddo a habit by providing fun, easy craft ideas you can make using the supplies in your craft bag.
Be sure to visit the “Fill Your Bag” page to see exactly what we recommend keeping on hand to make the amazing creations you’ll find throughout this site. We use the same master list of craft supplies across all of our projects to help reduce prep time, cut down on mess, and keep crafting with your family simple and affordable.
Since we don’t stray from that list in our crafts or in the kids’ craft ebooks in our store, you won’t have to make extra store runs or delay crafting because you’re missing supplies. Just fill your bag using our list, and you’re ready to create!
Ready to stock up on the tools and products we love? We’ve put together a quick shopping list of our favorite supplies available on Amazon and Walmart to help you find what you need easily. You can revisit the list anytime on our Projects Pages or the Fill Your Bag page so it’s always handy when you’re planning your next craft.
SUPPLIES Needed to make Acrobat “FROM THE BAG”
- 3 Large popsicle sticks
- Elmer’s glue
- Construction paper (white or light color)
- Scissors
- Markers
- White yarn
- 2 Small googly eyes
- Glue stick
- Optional: Newspaper
- Optional: Paint (color of your choice)
- Optional: Medium pompom
- Optional: Clothespin
It is our mission here at “In the Bag Kids’ Crafts” to help families make the time to create together…because hands-on creating is so important to, not only child development, but to bringing people together. The list of benefits of making crafts is longer than my arm (wow, I don’t think I have ever used that phrase before…am I showing my age?) Here is a post that talks about that hidden benefits of crafting. You might be wondering, “how they any different than every other kids’ craft site?”
How to make Acrobat Circus Craft…
Step 1: Make a Trapeze
- Glue together 3 large popsicle sticks to form a triangle frame. Let the glue dry thoroughly. *You may want to do this step the day before and let it sit overnight to dry.
- Optional: Place the triangle frame on the newspaper and squeeze out a little paint. Pinch the pompom with the clothespin to form a “paint brush. Paint the trapeze triangle and set it aside to dry.
- Once the paint is dry (if you chose to do that step), cut a piece of yarn about 1 yard long and tie it to one of the corners. This is what you will hold (or tie to something) to make the trapeze swing.
Step 2: Make the Trapeze Artist
- Draw OR print the template and trace your acrobat with extended arms and legs so that they can grab the trapeze. Use white or light colored paper.
- Cut out your acrobat. *For little ones, precut the acrobat and allow them to do the following steps.
- Then, color your trapeze artist with your markers. You can even give him/her an emblem on the front of the circus costume. Really, there is no wrong way to do this. Make it your own and get creative! You may also want to color the back, as it will be seen as your acrobat jumps and twists in the air.
- Use the glue stick to attach the small googly eyes and draw on a face. *Do not add more to your acrobat (like glitter or beads or stickers) because any additional weight will make it so that your character cannot stay on the trapeze.
- Finally, use your scissors to gently curl the legs like you would a curling ribbon. Just gently glide the scissors along the back of each leg, and you will see it start to curl. If you prefer to have your trapeze artist hanging by his/her arms, then do this to the arms instead.
Step 3: Play
- Hold the end of the yarn attached to your trapeze or tie it to an object, like a tree branch or a curtain rod. Look around your home and yard for a good place that will give it plenty of room to swing.
- Then, hang your trapeze artist on the artist and make him/her swing and twist. If you have made more than one, help them put on a show!
Save this circus craft for later! Pin it to your favorite Pinterest board…
this craft is great for 4–10 year old kids
Circus crafts are great for helping children develop creativity, imagination, and storytelling skills. They encourage pretend play as kids design their own circus characters and invent tricks for their acrobat performers. This type of craft also helps build fine motor skills as children color, cut, and assemble their projects while enjoying hands-on creative learning.
No, this craft is generally not messy. It mainly uses a printable template, popsicle sticks, glue, and coloring supplies. Just make sure younger children have supervision when using scissors and glue to keep the activity clean and safe.
