The lion stick puppet art activity is a simple, yet fun way to introduce multiple themes in the early childhood classroom. This lesson plan can be integrated into animal, art, or season/calendar (i.e., March coming in like a lion) themes.
Lesson Objectives for the Lion Puppet
- Increase fine motor skills.
- Explore the visual arts and art making processes.
- Explore dramatic play.
- Develop awareness for the uses of art materials.
- Increase animal recognition (lion).
Grade/Age
3-5 years
Materials Needed to Create Lion Stick Puppets
- Large sized paper circles (made from a sturdy paper such as card board or poster board), or paper plates
- Tempera paint and brushes
- Sponges (to be used with paint)
- Tissue paper strips
- Paper triangles
- Large craft sticks
- Glue
- Tape
Steps for Creating the Lion Stick Puppet
Before beginning this activity, discuss the project as needed based on your theme. For instance, are you using this puppet to express March coming in like a lion or is it being coupled with an animal unit? Show visual images of lions to the class. These can be photos, posters, or illustrations from a book.
Another pre-activity or pre-planning step is to prepare the materials. Paper plates may be used for the lion's head if available. If you are not using paper plates, choose a sturdy paper such as card board or poster board. Using a template or a large bowl turned upside down, trace circles onto the paper. Pre-cut these for the children. During this time you can also prepare the paper triangles. These will be used as ears. Size them according to the circle that you are using.
After you have pre-cut the circles, select appropriate paint colors. For more realistic looking lions use brown, yellow, orange, and white. If you would like the children to be creative in color and make fanciful lions, use a rainbow of colors. In either case, allow the children too experiment with color mixing while painting. By mixing white, brown, and yellow the children can create their own unique (yet realistic) lion colors.
Process Steps:
- Have the children glue two triangles to the circle. These will be the ears.
- Invite the children to paint the lion's face (the plate or circle).
- Have the children add facial features such as eyes, nose, and mouth with paint (you may need to give them new paint colors for this step).
- Dipping sponges into the tempera paint, the children can now add a painted lion's mane.
- Additional lion's mane fur can be added with tissue paper. Ask the children to scrunch or bunch up pieces of tissue paper and glue it around the edge of the circle.
- Tape the large craft stick to the back of the paper plate. This will be the stick handle.
- After the lion is dry, encourage pretend play with the lion puppets.
Lesson Wrap Up for the Lion Puppet
Ask the children questions about the art making process. Suggestions include:
- What was fun?
- What was difficult?
- How did you make new colors with the paint?
- How did you make the tissue paper stick?
Enrichment Activities for the Lion Puppet
- Pretend play: Have a lion puppet show or an all lion circus.
- Emotions: Ask the children to create an emotion on the lion's face when painting. For example, a smile indicates a happy lion.
- Animal extension: Spend a week creating all kinds of animals. At the end of the week have an all animal puppet show.
- Visit a zoo to see real lions.
Using basic shapes and only a few art materials, young children can create unique and interesting works of animal art. These puppet creations can be utilized as inspiration for mini-dramas and pretend play.
