Animal crafts are always a hit with toddlers. Whether it’s buzzing bees, cheeky frogs, or colourful butterflies, turning simple materials into animals is a great way to encourage creativity and hands-on learning.
Many animal crafts for toddlers are surprisingly simple to make and only need basic supplies like paper plates, paint and coloured card. The focus isn’t on creating perfect crafts, but on letting children explore colours, textures and imagination.
The good news is that you don’t need complicated supplies or hours of preparation. Most of the best kids’ crafts come from everyday materials you probably already have around the house.
Below are some of our favourite easy animal crafts for toddlers and young kids. Some are quick paper plate projects we’ve made together, while others use simple materials like paper rolls or egg cartons.
None of them need perfect results — messy, slightly wonky animals are all part of the fun. Here are some fun animal craft ideas you can try at home with toddlers and preschoolers.
🐸 Paper Plate Frog Craft
This bright green frog craft is one of our favourites. It uses half a paper plate as the frog’s body and adds big cartoon-style eyes, a curly tongue and some simple card legs.
There’s plenty of cutting and sticking involved, which makes it great for children building confidence with scissors and glue.
The finished frog ends up full of personality, and every child’s version looks slightly different.
👉 Read the full tutorial: Paper Plate Frog Craft
🐟 Rock Painting Fish
Painting rocks is a surprisingly calming craft for kids.
Smooth stones can easily be turned into colourful fish by painting bright patterns and adding simple fins and eyes. These can then be displayed in the garden or used as decorations.
It’s a lovely outdoor activity if you can collect the rocks together before crafting.
🐞 Paper Plate Ladybug Craft
Ladybugs are perfect for toddler crafts because they’re simple and instantly recognisable.
Our version uses a painted paper plate and a few easy shapes to create the wings and body. Robbie insisted on replacing the traditional spots with little hearts, which actually turned out surprisingly well.
It’s a great craft for practising painting and basic cutting skills.
🐢 Egg Carton Turtle Craft
Egg cartons are fantastic for kids’ crafts because the little compartments naturally form interesting shapes.
For a simple turtle craft, cut out one section of an egg carton, paint it green, and add paper legs, a tail and a small turtle head. You can even decorate the shell with patterns or stickers.
It’s a great way to recycle materials and turn something ordinary into a fun animal craft.
Find the inspiration for this kids turtle craft here.
🕷️ Paper Plate Spider Craft
Spiders might sound a bit creepy, but this craft is surprisingly fun for kids.
All you need is a painted plate, some legs made from card or pipe cleaners, and a pair of googly eyes. Younger children love counting the legs while sticking them on.
It’s also a great craft to make around Halloween, although it works just as well any time of year.
👉 See how to make the spider craft
🐝 Paper Plate Bee Craft
This cheerful little bee is a brilliant springtime craft. The bold yellow and black colours make it really fun for toddlers to paint, and the simple shapes mean there isn’t too much tricky cutting involved.
It’s also a great chance to talk about bees, flowers and pollination while you’re crafting.
Fair warning though — once the bee is finished there will probably be a lot of buzzing noises around the house.
🦋 Paper Plate Butterfly Craft
Butterflies are one of the best animal crafts for toddlers as they encourage creativity since there’s no “right” way to decorate them.
Once the basic butterfly shape is made, children can paint, colour or decorate the wings however they like. Bright colours, patterns and glitter all work perfectly.
Every butterfly ends up completely unique, which is part of the magic of this craft.
👉 View the paper plate butterfly craft tutorial
🦃 Paper Plate Turkey Craft
Turkeys might be best known for Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts, but they’re actually great animals for kids’ projects all year round.
This craft uses painted feathers and simple shapes to create a cheerful turkey face. It’s an ideal activity for practising painting and colour choices.
It’s also one of those crafts that always looks great displayed on the fridge afterwards.
👉 See how to make the turkey craft
🖐️ Butterfly Handprint Craft
If your toddler enjoys messy painting, handprint crafts are always a winner.
This butterfly craft uses painted handprints to create colourful wings, making it a brilliant keepsake as well as a fun activity.
Handprint crafts are also lovely to look back on later — it’s amazing how quickly those tiny hands grow.
👉 See the handprint butterfly kids craft
Paper Plate Fish Craft
This is one of the simplest and yet creative toddler crafts. Making the fish outline takes seconds and from there it is down to the kids to decorate in any way they want!
Robbie chose to glue colourful pom-poms to the fish and make his eyes from cutting black card, but the possibilities really are endless with this fish craft.
Make your own paper plate fish
🦉 Paper Roll Owl Craft
Toilet paper rolls are another brilliant crafting material that most homes already have.
A simple owl can be made by painting the roll, flattening the top slightly to form ears, and adding paper wings and large owl eyes.
This craft works especially well for autumn themes and woodland animal activities.
Tips for Doing Animal Crafts With Toddlers
Crafting with toddlers is rarely neat or perfectly planned — and that’s completely fine.
A few simple tips can make things much easier:
- Prepare tricky parts like cutting shapes before starting
- Offer limited colour choices to avoid overwhelm
- Let toddlers help with painting and sticking
- Focus on the process rather than the finished result
Often the most fun part for children is simply painting, gluing and experimenting.
Simple Supplies That Work for Most Animal Crafts For Toddlers
You don’t need a huge craft cupboard to get started. Most of these activities use basic materials like:
- paper plates
- coloured card or paper
- washable paint
- glue sticks
- scissors
- googly eyes
Keeping a small craft box ready makes it much easier to say yes when your child suddenly wants to “make something”.
More Easy Craft Ideas for Toddlers
If your child enjoyed these animal crafts, you might also like our full collection of paper plate crafts for toddlers, where we share even more simple craft ideas using everyday materials.
Many of those activities use the same supplies and are perfect for rainy afternoons, quiet weekends, or quick creative play after school. Animal crafts like these are a fun way to combine creativity, learning and play — and they’re perfect for toddlers who enjoy getting stuck in with paint, glue and imagination.
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