Elephant Craft for Kids (with Free Template)
This elephant craft for kids is so sweet and simple to put together. Plus, when you’re done, have the elephant tell a story or engage in other imaginative play. We used paint for our elephant, but you can adapt it by using crayons or markers instead. There are some times when getting out the paint isn’t an option. Grab the free elephant craft template to make crafting even easier.
If you enjoy this elephant craft, you’re also going to love making our elephant with wiggly ears, paper elephant craft or newspaper elephant craft.
You’re Going to Want to Make EVERY SINGLE Paper Plate Animal Craft in this Collection with Your Kids…
Fun Facts About Elephants
- Elephants are the world’s largest land animal.
- You can tell the various species apart by the shape of their ears.
- Their trunks are multi-functional and can do things like act as a snorkel when swimming, hold (and spray) liters of water, and even pick up a peanut and shell it.
- Elephants spend most of their day eating.
- It’s true that an elephant never forgets.
For more interesting facts about elephants, check out this article by National Georgraphic Kids.
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SUPPLIES FROM THE LIST
- 2 Paper plates (9-inch coated)
- Newspaper
- Gray paint
- Pompom
- Clothespin
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Construction paper
- Googly eyes (or printable paper craft eyes)
- Glue stick
- Markers
- Crayons
- Elephant craft template
Crafting with your kids is supposed to be fun. It shouldn’t be just one more thing on your “to do” list that you never get around to. This is way too important! So, to make it actually do-able to find time to craft with your kids and keep it an enjoyable process, we stick to a master list of 27 basic items that fit into one bag to make all of the hundreds of crafts you see on this site and in our shop. That way, once you fill your bag, you’re ready to go. It’s that simple 🙂
Combine Reading with Crafting
One of the best ways to elevate the crafting experience is to add reading a good book to the activity. Here are a few of our favorite elephant themed bookd for kids.
How to Make an Elephant Craft for Kids
Step 1: Paint the Plates
- Lay out some newspaper on your crafting surface.
- Pinch a pompom with a clothespin to form a “paint brush”.
- Place your 2 paper plates on the newspaper, bottom side up.
- Now paint the bottom of each plate gray.
*If you don’t have gray paint, combine black and white. This is a great lesson for kids on how colors come together to form other colors.
Step 2: Use the Elephant Craft Template
- While the paint is drying, download and print the free elephant craft template.
- Use it to cut all of the parts out for your elephant from construction paper. This includes 2 ears, 4 legs, a hair tuft, the trunk and a tail.
*If you don’t have access to a printer, draw the parts by hand onto construction paper and then cut them out.
Step 3: Put the Body Together
- On one of the plates, cut a flap that is about 2 inches wide and an inch deep.
- Bend it up.
- Overlap the 2 plates about an inch or so to form the body and head of your elephant craft.
- Generously apply your glue stick to the flap that you cut and attach it to the other plate as pictured. Press and hold for a minute to give the glue time to take hold.
Step 4: Time to Assemble
- Now use your glue stick again to attach all of the parts for your elephant craft, including the ears, legs, trunk, tail and hair tuft.
- Press and hold so that the glue takes hold.
- For the tail, snip the end to create the “hair”.
- Then go in with a marker or pencil to curve the ears and trunk slightly.
Step 5: Add the Final Details
- Finally, place the googly eyes. We used 25mm self-adhesive googly eyes, but you can also print and cut out paper eyes found HERE.
- As a finishing touch, go in with your markers and crayons and add any details you would like.
- Add any other details that you would like also at this time.
Now that you know how to make an elephant craft, it’s time to really make it your own. We stuck with traditional gray when painting ours, but you can choose to make it any color(s) you like, even pink with orange polka dots if you want. As a finishing touch, we cut out and glued on a little heart to the bum. You can also add other touches, like rosy cheeks or a hair bow. The only limit is your imagination.
Save this Paper Plate Craft for later. Pin it to your favorite Pinterest board…
