Clothespin Farm Animals
Featured Crafts
Supplies Needed
To make the animals:
- Printable cardstock
- Wooden clothespins
- Crayons or colored pencils
- Glue stick
- Scissors
To make the box corral:
- Tissue box or similar-sized box
- Strips of colored constuction paper
- Flower sequins or foam flowers
- Black or any dark-colored acrylic paint
- Colored masking tape
- Paint brush
- Stapler
STEPS
1Print out the templates.
Print out any or all of these clothespin farm animals on white cardstock. Notice how the animals come in mirror-image pairs.
2Color the animals.
Color the farm animals with crayons or colored pencils.
3Cut them out.
Cut out all the animals.
4Glue together by pairs.
Glue the animal pairs back-to-back, aligning them along the edges.
5Add the clothespin legs.
Clip on wooden clothespins to make the animal's legs—one clothespin for two-legged animals and two for four-legged animals.
If you want to build a box corral for your farm animals, continue with the steps below.
6Prepare the box.
Trim off the top panel off a tissue box or any box that can accomodate all the animals. Staple the side flaps if necessary.
7Paint the box.
Paint the outside of the box with any dark-colored acrylic paint. Allow the paint to dry.
8Create a fence.
Cut 14 or more strips from construction paper, each approximately 1.5 in. wide and 3 in. long. Glue the paper strips evenly around the outside of the box.
9Finish the fence.
Complete the fence by putting colored tape or gluing on a very long 1-inch wide strip of paper around the entire middle section of the box.
10Decorate the box.
Decorate the base of the fence with grass and flowers. To make the grass, cut out a long strip of green paper—one side of the strip cut with a pair of regular scissors and the opposite side with zigzag craft scissors.
Glue some flower-shaped foam shapes, sequins or stickers. You can also punch out some flower shapes from paper using a flower craft punch.
11Put the animals in the box.
Keep the clothespin farm animals inside the box corral after you're done playing with them.
More Ideas
Add texture by gluing materials like wiggle eyes for the animal's eyes and some yarn, feathers, or cotton for the hair or fur.
Give your clothespin animals more character with some little details. Make a yarn collar or paper bandana around the dog's neck, a small paper hat for the pig, and a paper saddle for the horse. You can even draw and cut out a paper cowboy to ride on your clothespin horse.
Try clipping the clothespin legs at an angle to vary the animal's poses. The clothespin was clipped horizontally at the back of this chicken to allow it to sit on its nest. Check out the dog below—its clothespin legs were positioned at an angle to give it a playful pose.
Paint the wooden clothespins so that the animal's legs blend in with the body.
