This craft is one of the most exciting activities to do in preschool, and your students are most likely always begging you for more and more fun craft projects for them to do!
However, coming up with ideas can be tricky, especially if you want to try and tie the craft projects into certain themes like a recent holiday or a book you and your class have been reading together. But don’t worry – we are here to help!
If you are looking for some fun, lion-themed craft projects for preschoolers, then this is the place for you.
We have pulled together a list of the fifteen most exciting lion crafts out there for you and your students to try out. Check out the list below, pull out your favorites and give them a go!
Paper Plate Lion Painting
This is a classic and easy way to enjoy some lion-themed crafts with your preschool students.
All you need to find is some paper plates, enough for each of your preschoolers to have one at least. Then, using the plate as guidance, your students can transform the plate into a lion’s face!
All they have to do is paint on the lion’s face, using the wrinkled rim of the plate as the mane.
Your students can get creative and paint on any kind of expression they like for their lion – they could be smiling or growling, sad or happy, it’s all up to them!
This activity may be a very basic one but it’s great for especially young children who are often very messy when it comes to painting.
This is because they can use the shape of the plate as guidance, allowing them to make a more clear painting while still having creative freedom when it comes to the color and expression of their lion!
Lion Paper Scissor Practice
To practice their scissor skills, why not try this craft which involves cutting up a paper plate for the perfect lion mane!
Using paper plates once again for an easy structure your students can follow, you can either let them paint or draw a picture of a lion on the plate just like in the step above.
However, this time, they can use this activity to practice their fine motor skills and try out cutting cards with scissors!
All they have to do is follow the wrinkles of the rim of the paper plate, cutting straight little lines to give the mane more movement.
This is a great task to get them practicing with the scissors and a great opportunity for you to teach them about scissor safety.
Pom Pomp Lion Painting
This painting session takes a spin by using pom-poms instead of brushes to give your students pictures and paintings the purr-fect fur-like effect for their lions!
All you need is some plain, small pom poms and plenty of paint and paper. Your students can then use the pom-poms by dipping them in the paint and using them to make pointillism-like artwork of lions.
The fluffy texture of the pom poms will give each dap of paint a fur-like visual effect that will amaze your students.
This is a great creative activity that engages your students’ senses as they try different mediums outside of a paintbrush and paint.
String Lion Mane
Get your students practicing tying knots with their fine motor skills by making their lion’s manes out of string!
Paper plates make a comeback with this activity as your students will have to draw or paint the lions’ faces onto the plate themselves.
Then, you can use a hole punch to punch holes around the mane. Your students will then have to tie lots of woolen strings through the whole until their lions are left with a full, soft mane.
This activity is super sensory as your students get to play with wool and strings, plus their fine motor skills are put to the test as they learn how to tie knots.
Once they are done, they will be left with a great crafts project that uses different types of media!
Spaghetti Lion
The pasta-bilities are endless with this form of lion crafts that is perfect for preschoolers!
You can use paper plates again for this project or just have your students paint a giant face of a lion on a piece of card.
Then, give them lots of pieces of dried spaghetti and tell them to glue the spaghetti down around the lion’s face, making it look like a mane.
If you want to be more creative, you can dye the spaghetti pieces beforehand with different food coloring or give your students other types of pasta too including macaroni, fusilli, and penne.
They can mix and match the pasta for their lion’s mane and get creative with this fun lion crafts project!
Folded Fan Lion Mane
Kids love nothing more than folding pieces of paper in lots of fun and interesting ways – so why not teach them how to fold paper to make a cool lion mane?
It’s a very easy craft project that involves folding two pieces of paper like a fan and connecting them at the bottom. This will leave you with a fan-like circle of paper.
Then, grab a paper plate, paint a lion’s face onto the center and stick it in the middle (make sure your fan is bigger than the paper plate!).
This activity will get your students’ motor skills going as they try to follow your steps and fold their pieces of paper.
Plus, they can be creative and maybe even try folding two pieces of paper at the same time, or add tissue paper into the mane for a more textured effect.
Wooden Spoon Lion
This crafts project involves turning boring old wooden spoons into the leading stars of your students’ puppet plays!
Give each student a wooden spoon and plenty of craft materials – googly eyes, glitter, paint, felt pens, wool, anything! Then instruct them to turn the bowl of the spoon into their lion!
Not only will your students have a ton of fun with this project, but they will also be left with their unique lion character for a puppet play.
Your students can then use their lion spoons for play, improving their imagination and social skills as they form their narratives together.
Toilet Paper Roll Lion
Recycling is great and your students can partake by transforming their trash into gold with this craft session.
To encourage your students to reuse and recycle materials, ask them to bring in a spare toilet paper roll from home (or you can collect and bring in your own so no student is left out).
Then, this role will be painted yellow and used as the body of your students’ lions!
From here, you students can have free rein – all you need to do is give them the materials they want to use to make their lions.
You can give them paper, card, tissue paper, googly eyes, pom-poms, wool, glitter, paint, pencils, crayons – a huge number of media so your students can get creative and independently make their lions using the same starting point.
Leafy Lion
If you are trying out these crafts in Fall, then you have the perfect material right at your fingertips – or rather, out on the school playground!
On a dry day, take your students outside and ask them to collect as many clean, dry fallen leaves as they can.
Once they have plenty, they can take them inside and start to stick these leaves down onto large pieces of paper in a circle in the middle.
Then, they can draw a lion’s face on a separate piece of paper, cut it out, and stick it in the middle of their leaf circle. This will give the effect of a lion mane made from Fall leaves!
This is a great way to introduce your students to multimedia crafts and how they can use lots of different materials from pretty much anywhere!
Fork Lion Painting
This craft exercise only needs three basic things – paper, paint, and a lot of plastic forks!
Have your students paint out a lion face on a piece of paper then swap out the paintbrushes for some plastic forks.
Then, you students will have to paint using the prongs of the forks to make some very sharp and spiky names for their lions!
This activity will show your students how they can look beyond usual tools when it comes to painting and crafts, and how different tools have different effects on their artwork.
3D Lion Craft
It’s time to layer up and show your students the wonders of 3D craft by making a lion out of lots of layers of materials!
Some of the best materials you can use for this project are felt, cardboard, sponges, bottle caps – anything that is very thick and stands out.
You will need to instruct your students how they can make one layer of their picture of a lion and then make it 3D by placing another layer on top.
For example, they can place down a layer for the whole body of the lion, but then make another layer leaving out the two behind legs so it looks like they are further away! Then, a layer for just the head and another layer for the face!
They can also use lots of different materials to make this piece of art a great sensory project as well as a creative one.
Handprint Lion Mane
This fun craft idea can be a great class project that involves everyone. After all, many hands make light work – or in this case, a lion mane!
Have your students make lots of handprints using red, yellow, and orange paint. Then, they can cut out their handprints and collect them all in a big pile.
These handprints will then be attached to the giant cut-out drawing of a lion, making it look like a mane made from the handprints of your students.
It’s a great teamwork exercise that can then be proudly displayed on your classroom walls or door.
Curly Wurly Lion Mane
Introduce some great textures to your lion crafts with this activity that makes a super curly lion mane that is great to play and fidget with.
To try out this craft project, have your students cut out lots of strips of red, orange, and brown paper. Then, they can roll up the strips of paper into cylinders, then flatten them back out so the ends are curled.
These strips of paper will act as your lion’s mane so on a separate piece of paper, your students will draw their lion’s face and cut it out.
Once all the strips of paper are attached, they will be left with a cute lion crafts project with a super curly mane!
Lion Masks
Masks are a great way to encourage play, so why not have your students make their lion masks as a craft activity too?
You can hand out stenciled outlines of masks (or make your paper mache masks) and ask your students to turn them into lions. They can have bloody teeth, big noses, and ears, scars, or strange markings – anything!
These masks can then be used in a play or performance your students plan on making. So, not only is this a very creative activity, but it can lend itself into another one that helps with your students’ confidence and imagination.
Our Own Lion Manes (Multimedia)
If masks aren’t your students’ thing, then they can try making their lion manes to wear!
All they need for this is a large ring of cardboard that fits around their face. Then, attached to the cardboard, they can add any kind of media they like to make their manes – leaves, string, painted handprints, feathers, anything!
Then, they can later use their lion manes during their play.
Conclusion
And that’s it! Those are our fifteen favorite lion-themed crafts projects that you can try out with preschoolers! Pick out your favorite ones and give them a go! Good luck!
