Barnyard Dance Chicken Craft for Fun Scissors Practice

Inside: This chicken craft for preschool makes fun scissors practice and goes along with the much-loved book Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton.

closeup of a child's hands spinning a white chicken craft

Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton is a charming board book that you won’t mind reading over and over.  (And you will read it over and over because toddlers and preschoolers LOVE it!)

You can extend the fun even further with this little craft and activity that go with one of the cutest lines in the story:

“Spin with the chickens now! Cluck, cluck, cluck.”

Plus, cutting it is great fine motor practice for toddlers and preschoolers.

About Barnyard Dance

The story opens with an illustration of a cow in green sunglasses playing a tiny fiddle, and the inviting line,

“Stomp your feet! Clap your hands! Everybody ready for a barnyard dance!”

It goes on to call out square dance moves for every animal in the barnyard, from the ducks to the donkeys.

 Barnyard Dance book cover



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One of my favorite lines in Barnyard Dance! (affiliate) is “Spin with the chickens now! Cluck, cluck, cluck.” When I read it to my son Liam when he was a toddler, he loved to get up and spin around for that part.

He was (and still is) a go-go-go kind of kid, so getting to move around during a story made it all the more fun for him.

Spinning Chicken Craft

Getting a busy kid to sit still and practice cutting with scissors is sometimes challenging. This simple chicken craft, may help. It’s a spinning chicken!

The idea is inspired by this adorable chick from I Heart Crafty Things, and also by my own Summertime Scissors Practice post.

…but I wanted to make it more interactive, hence the spinning bit.

Materials

There’s a good chance you already have all these supplies:

  • Construction paper or card stock, white and yellow
  • Scissors
  • Googly Eyes
  • Glue
  • Tape
  • Pencil
  • Circle template – tracing around a small plate works well
  • Red washable tempera paint
A chicken craft and activity to go along with the Sandra Boynton book Barnyard Dance! Plus, making it is good fine motor practice for toddlers and preschoolers.
Nope, kid-made chickens won’t look like this one. But you get the idea here!

Instructions

  1. Paint 3 of the child’s fingers with the red paint, and stamp onto white paper.
  2. Using a template, trace and cut out a circle.
  3. Have the child cut fringe around the outside of the circle. It may help to draw a second, inner circle so they have a line to stop at.
  4. Cut out a yellow beak and glue it on.
  5. Glue on googly eyes.
  6. Cut out the red fingers “comb” for the chicken’s head and glue on.
  7. Tape a pencil to the back.

Now you’re ready to spin the chicken. Show your children how to roll the pencil back and forth between their hands.

motion blurred photo of a child spinning the chicken craft

This post is part of the Monthly Crafting Book Club. For even more ideas to pair with Barnyard Dance, you may like to check it out!

A craft and activity to go along with the Sandra Boynton book Barnyard Dance! Plus, making it is good fine motor practice for toddlers and preschoolers.

Pin this chicken craft for later:

chicken craft with title text


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