Let your child’s imagination and creativity run wild! This arts & crafts activity is ideal for preschool and school-aged children who love exploring and visiting the zoo whether it is on a school or family trip. Through the activity, preschool children and school-aged children can enhance fine motor skills such as painting, coloring, and gluing. Parental supervision and direct eye contact is encouraged. As a parent, you can assist your child in gluing the foam shapes to the bottle caps carefully when using the glue gun. These zoo animal foam stamps can serve to create countless scenes at the zoo and a vivid imagery of what it feels to be in the wildlife.
Supplies:
-1 glue gun
-1 glue stick
-1 paint brush
-2 paper plates
-bottle caps
-Zoo animal foam shapes
-Colors or color pencils
-Acrylic or washable paint
Step 1: Setting up workspace
On a table or a desk, gather all the supplies on a clean surface and place some newspaper or paper towel down over the table.
Step 2: Prepare glue gun
Heat up a glue gun for approximately 2 minutes. For your child’s safety, heat up the glue gun away from the child on a counter.
Step 3: Choose shapes
Let your child choose zoo animal foam shapes for the activity. If you do not have access to foam shapes, you can definitely create your own! You can buy foam sheets and draw your own zoo animals. You can also use stencils or cut out pictures of animals to trace.
Step 4: Glue foam shapes
Carefully assist your child in gluing the sticky side of the foam shapes on the flat surface of bottle caps. You want the design of the animal showing on top of the bottle cap.
Step: 5 Choose paint & Painting foam shapes
Choose the color of paint you would like the foam shapes for the zoo animals. You only need a small amount of paint. Pour paint on a paper plate and use a paint brush to paint foam shapes. Paint can be a little messy so keep some paper towels handy for your child.
Step 6: Stamp away!
Stamp the foam shapes onto the bottom section of the paper plate.
Hint: Test them out! You can use a blank sheet of paper to practice stamping the foam shapes before you stamp them on the paper plate.
Step 7: Drying
Let the paint dry on the paper plate for a minimum of 1 hour.
Step 8: Coloring
Ready, set, time to color! Create your favorite scene at the zoo using colors or color pencils.
All done! You can display this paper plate in your child’s room or keep it in a treasure box as a memory!