Popsicle Stick Farm Animals
Have fun making and playing with these DIY farm animal stick puppets! When you’re done, check out these color & cut farm animal puppets. This post contains affiliate links.
You and your young friends are going to love these popsicle stick farm animals! In this post you’ll find instructions and a printable template for four of the most popular farm animals all in one place. Then, you can use the same concept with a little creativity to create even more animals to complete your farm.
This fun popsicle stick farm animal craft uses scraps of felt with paint to make some adorable friendly faces!
Once the craft is done, kids can enjoy using the animals as puppets or figures for imaginative play. We’ve talked a lot about how puppet play enhances children’s development of social, emotional, and language skills, while giving kids the satisfaction of using their own creations.
These small figures will take up hardly any space and can shine on even the smallest stages. Pack them away in a pencil case for neat storage or travel. They can even tuck into this travel activity kit for kids.
In addition to stick puppets, these animals on a stick can be used for party decor. You can stick them together with eating utensils into a napkin ring, or stand them up in a cup or centerpiece. If you’d like to stick them into cupcakes or cake, just leave the bottom unpainted so just the clean, safe popsicle stick is in your food.
You can also use them to accessorize just about anything. I may add a couple into my pen holder just for fun. The sticks are a bit thick for bookmarks; I don’t like to risk warping my real books, but I would use them as placeholders in a journal, magazine, or planner.
The instructions below recommend a glue gun, but you can easily make this more child-friendly by using liquid glue (tacky glue works beautifully) – it will just take a bit longer to dry. If you use a very small amount at a time, it won’t take too long.
You can help kids control the amount of glue they use by putting a little in a cup and having the child use a cotton swab to dab one drop of glue at a time.
Since the felt parts of this project are quite small, I would consider cutting them in advance for the youngest crafters or those with fine motor challenges. They’ll still have fun assembling the animals. Alternatively, you can use stiff felt, which is easier to cut, or paper, which is even easier but less durable and will not look as impressive as felt.
They can also mix and match their designs for their own imaginative creatures. Choose the materials that you like best (or that are easiest and most available to you!) and get ready to E I E I O!
What you’ll need
- Jumbo craft sticks
- Felt sheets or scraps (black, brown, pink, red, orange)
- Googly eyes (small)
- Buttons (beige, brown, pink)
- Glue gun with glue sticks for adults finishing the assembly, tacky glue for kids
- Craft paint (white, black, brown, pink, yellow) – Use washable paint for young kids, but it won’t have the same solid coverage.
- Paint brush
- Detail Scissors
- Black marker (preferably permanent)
- Pencil
- Stick animals template (download free at the end of this post and print)
How to Craft Popsicle Stick Farm Animals
1. Paint one craft stick with each color paint. Let it dry, and apply a second coat if you can still see through the first one.
2. On the white stick, paint random spots with black paint. You can actually use marker for this part, it might be easier. Let it dry, then apply a second coat if necessary.
3. Print the farm animal template. Cut out each shape and trace them onto felt sheets – pig ears on pink, cow ears on black, horse ears and mane on brown, chicken beak on orange, and chicken comb on red.
Cut all the shapes out of the felt. Cut fringes on the horse’s mane.
4. Use the glue gun to assemble the animals as follows:
Pig: Glue the pink felt ears to the back, sticking out on top. Attach two wiggly eyes and then use a pink button for the snout below the eyes.
Horse: Glue the brown felt to the back with the mane sticking out on the side and top. Add two wiggly eyes and then a brown button for the muzzle below the eyes.
Cow: Glue the black felt ears to the back, two wiggly eyes in front, and a peach button for the muzzle.
Chicken: Glue the red felt comb on back, sticking up from the top of the stick. Add two wiggly eyes and the orange felt beak on the front.
Your popsicle stick farm animals are complete! Which other animals will you try creating?
Download the Popsicle Stick Farm Animals Template
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