DLTK's Holiday Crafts for Kids
Heart Lion Paper Craft

heart lion paper craftContributed by Leanne Guenther

The heart lion is an easy color, cut and paste paper craft for children.  It is suitable for lots of different themes including Valentine's Day, Bible stories like Daniel and the Lions, March weather (in like a lion, out like a lamb) and jungle animals.

Tip 1:  Include the message "You make my heart ROAR!"

Tip 2:  Glue the heart animal paper craft to the front of a folded over piece of construction paper or a doily to make a cute Valentine's Day card.

Tip 3:  Purchase fancy paper from the scrapbooking store and print the B&W version onto this for an extra fancy Heart Animal.

Tip 4:  Scotch tape a straw or popsicle stick to the bottom to make a lion puppet.

Tip 5:  Glue a small piece of sandpaper on the back to make a felt board character.

Tip 6:  Cut construction paper into 4 inch wide strips as long as you can make them.  Tape two together to make even longer.  Measure around child's head to make a construction paper 'crown'.  Glue Heart Animal to front of the crown to make a Valentine's Day hat.

Materials:

Craft Instructions:

lion heart craftGlue the small heart nose onto the heart face, just below the eyes.

lion heart craftGlue the heart ears onto either side of the heart head.

lion heart craftGlue the four of the heart mane pieces onto the back of the heart head...  Top, bottom, left and right.

lion heart craftGlue the remaining four of the heart mane pieces onto the back of the heart head, filling in the spaces between the ones you glued on in the previous step.

lion heart craftGlue the large heart body piece upside down under the heart head.

lion heart craftGlue the smaller heart body piece upside down behind the first body piece.

lion heart craftGlue the heart tail behind the heart body and you're finished!

 

Option for mass-producing - young children:  Print out the B&W template.  Trace the pieces onto stiff cardboard (back of paper pads works well) or margarine/ice cream container lids.  Cut out to make permanent templates.   Allow the children to trace these permanent templates onto different colors of construction paper to make their animal

Option for mass-producing - older children:  Omit the templates.  Let the children cut out heart shapes in various sizes from colored construction paper (show them how to fold paper in half and then cut to make a perfectly symmetrical heart).  Let the children create their own animals by putting together hearts of different sizes (you can pre-make a few example animals to give them some inspiration).

Craft Templates:

Heart Lion template    (color)   or    (B&W)

 

Printable version of these instructions