How to Make Construction Paper Lions

A fun and easy craft that teaches cutting, colors and counting is making lions from construction paper. This project is fun to do even when it isn't used for teaching. You can use these steps to make a lion or a lioness.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Round templates

1. Find three different objects you can trace to create circles. You need a large circle for the head, a medium circle for the cheeks and mane and a small circle for the eyes. You can use a soup can for the large, an 8 ounce glass for the medium and an AA battery for the small.

2. Trace circles onto the construction paper. You need one medium and two small circles traced onto a black sheet of construction paper. On tan or yellow construction paper, trace one large circle and four medium circles. Trace one medium circle on a piece of white construction paper. If you're making a lion, you need eight medium circles for the mane on brown or orange construction paper.

3. Cut out the circles and begin assembling your lion or lioness. You can glue the pieces to each other or onto an 8 by 10 piece of construction paper for more stability.

4. Arrange the eight medium circles in the same color for an optional mane by placing four circles in a square shape and four circles in a diamond shape over the other circles. You need to leave enough room in the center for the large circle. When you have the correct arrangement, glue the pieces in place.

5. Place the large circle slightly above center in the mane and glue into place. For a lioness, use this circle as your starting point and only glue if you're securing it to a piece of paper. Glue the top half of the back on the black medium circle. You want to secure the black circle to the large circle so that the bottom third of the black circle is centered and below the bottom center of the large circle. You use the two small black circles for eyes by gluing them onto the large circle about a third of the way from the top of the large circle.

6. Glue the ears and cheeks into place. Glue two of the tan or yellow medium circles at the top sides of the large circle. Glue the other two circles side by side so they touch at the bottom of the large circle, partially covering the medium black circle to form the lion's or lioness's nose. Glue the white circle centered onto the two cheek circles so that the top of the white circle reaches halfway up the two cheek circles.

7. Add a body to your lion by adding an extra large circle and two more medium circles to your project. Glue the face that you just made onto the top portion of the extra large circle. Glue two medium circles at the base of the extra large circle. If you want, you can add a tail to the side of the extra large circle.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use strips of red, yellow and orange construction paper instead of circles to make the lion's mane.
• Only glue where the circles connect or your lion or lioness may stick to your work surface.