The Playlist: Animal and pet-themed crafts and activities

We’re talking and learning all about animals and pets! With pet adoptions on the rise, it’s clear that we’re all craving cuddles with furry friends, so why not give them some extra attention?

Animal-themed art!

Be inspired by four-legged, furry friends and get your craft on with these artsy, animal and pet-themed ideas:

Feel like making some cute crafts? Check out this list of ten, super easy animal crafts you can do with just a few supplies at home.

Creature Feature with TAM! Visit Tacoma Art Museum’s online animal art gallery, designed with kids in mind! View historical, famous works from a variety of cultures and media, all displaying the importance, grace, and energy of animals.

Get Crafty with BAM! Bellevue Arts Museum has put together a series of easy-to-follow YouTube art tutorials, many with an animal theme. Make a Silly Sea Turtle out of popsicle sticks and yarn, use watercolors to paint a Rainbow Fish, or create a fun Jellyfish Hat out of cellophane and a paper bowl.

Need more artsy ideas? Visit our Kids + Art Pinterest page for inspiration, which we’ve been adding to frequently.

Home learning featuring animals!

Try a few of these simple, animal-themed ideas that connect to learning, play, and creativity:

Animal math: Using animal toys or stuffed animals (or even pictures or drawings of animals), begin by counting the number of legs on each animal. The next step is adding (or subtracting, multiplying, etc.) those numbers together. “How many legs do six dogs have?” “Add together the legs of three cats, one goat, two birds and a snake!”

Get an animal pen-pal: Pasado’s Safe Haven in Sultan is missing their guests, and are extending an invitation for kids to choose an animal pen-pal from their sanctuary to write to! Choose from Blue Cow, Stella Turkey, and other adorable friends, and get to writing!

Animal reading: Have your kiddos pick a selection of their favorite animal books from your home collection, or choose a few new titles from your local online library system. Choose from Seattle Public Libraries, King County Library System, or Sno-Isle Libraries.

Animal themed coding: Living Computer Museum (now closed) has created an awesome tutorial for building your own MakeCode Arcade game. MakeCode is designed for anyone who wants to learn to code, and this tutorial for beginners features ducks and cats.

Animal sticker & coloring books: The dollar store usually carries a wide variety of activity books. Select a few with an animal theme and provide some quiet down-time during the day.

Animal “pretend” play: My five-year-old’s hands-down favorite activity right now is pretending to be a puppy. Make your child’s week by getting down on all fours and playing make-believe for ten minutes. Or, encourage your child to play “veterinarian” and give their stuffed animals a check up.

Home pet care: Have a pet in the house? Bring your kids into the process of taking care of it. Depending on age, kids can feed, walk, pick up poo, or even simply play “fetch” with your pet in the backyard. Thinking about jumping on the pet-adoption bandwagon? Start small with a goldfish, reptile, or ant farm. And, here are some things to consider before taking the pet-plunge.

Animal & nature online learning programs: Here are a few of our favorite online learning programs, created by local museums and zoos. Become a wildlife detective, create a garden for bees in your backyard, observe birds in your neighborhood, and much more.