Roll up to the Zoo!

If I had to pick a favourite crafty thing to do with the kids it would be making animals out of cardboard tubes. There are herds of them around the house which is probably a bit of a giveaway. Our production line started with cats, bats and owls, inspired by my trusty old 70's craft book - and there's no end of wonderful ideas on the web. It appears you can make just about anything out of a loo roll middle.
I've been squirrelling them away for months...Honestly, I've enough for a zoo...so that's exactly what we thought we'd do. A Zoo! The plan is to make an animal or two every week (hopefully!) using loo roll tubes and the odd cereal/egg box...

First off, lions. RAWR!

You'll need two tubes, part of a cereal packet, craft glue, paint and possibly a little bit of wool.

For the sitting lion, glue the top of the tube together and leave to dry - paperclips help with this bit. For the lying down lioness, draw 4 narrow triangles evenly spaced around one end. They don't need to be perfect..

.. mine were about 3cm long with a 1cm base. Cut out the triangles, then fold two opposite tabs inwards, and fold and glue one of the other tabs over the top of them.
The tab that's left is the front paws and just needs a snip out of the middle to make it look paw-like.
Worth squashing the tube down a little at this stage to flatten the bottom, so it doesn't roll about.
I also cut the corners off the sitting lion, but it's fine to leave them.

Painting time next, and splosh some on part of a cereal box as well as the tubes.

A ball of newspaper in the end of the lying down lioness rounds things off, but miss this bit out if you want.

When it's nice and dry use a cup or something handy to draw a circle, with a smaller circle inside (bottom of a vitamin bottle was perfect for this) You'll also need to draw two front paws, a lioness head and her hind legs, which look a bit like chicken drumsticks.
Paint or colour-in the outer circle of the lion's mane..

Cut everything out, then get mane snipping. Great scissor practice! My daughter loved this bit.

Glue everything in place - you could cut out a paper tail too, but we used a piece of wool - knot near the end and fray the bottom bit.

Just lose the mane, draw or paint on some lines, and you've got a tiger ...or spots for a leopard.

Anyway, it's a start! My mini-maker has asked for a zebra next time...

UPDATE: Our Zoo is expanding! So thought I'd add instructions for a zebra and a giraffe,  an elephant, a hippo and a rhino, penguins, turtles, monkeys...

Linking up with Kids Get Crafty