Need a creative way to use up bottle corks? This activity will make you want to celebrate more often, and save them up for a collection of cork animals. With some easy craft supplies, your child can learn to make this cute dog that stand up by itself on any surface. Color them in with pink, white, or stripes for a whole collection of pigs, sheep, zebras or other cork animals!
What You Do:
- Have your child paint two corks brown for a dog, or any other color depending on the animal he chooses to make.
- After the paint dries, have your child use a black marker or pen to draw a nose and mouth on one end of a cork for the dog’s face.
- Have your child cut out red foam or felt triangles to be the dog’s ears.
- Using hot glue, help your child glue googly eyes and 2 ears on the dog’s head.
- Break 2 toothpicks in half for 4 smaller pieces.
- Help your child poke a toothpick into one cork, then attach the other cork on the toothpick for the dog’s head.
- Next, your child can poke 4 toothpick pieces underneath cork body for the dog’s legs, and one in the back end for the tail.
- Let your child paint the toothpick pieces to match the color of the dog’s body.
Now your dog is ready to play!
Beth Levin has an M.A. in Curriculum and Education from Columbia University Teachers College. She has written educational activities for Macmillan/McGraw-Hill and Renaissance Learning publishers. She has a substitute teaching credential for grades K-12 in Oregon, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.