Dog Craft and Story for Preschoolers
Today I’m sharing an easy dog craft based on one of our favorite storybook dogs. It’s a simple activity great for preschoolers, but also fun when adapted for toddlers or kindergartners.
I counted 8 different Muddypaws books on Amazon. Each is written by a different author, but all are sweetly illustrated by Simon Mendez. (Books and Giggles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.)
Our favorite, Muddypaws Goes to School
(affiliate), is about how a little boy’s puppy follows him to school, and the mayhem that ensues.
Muddypaws gets into the paint and tracks multicolored paw prints across the playground.
With the book as inspiration, you can make an easy dog paw print craft with your child.
You might also like to use this time to talk about pets and, if you have a dog and your kids are old enough, introduce a pet dog chore chart. What do the dogs you know in real life have in common with the book character? How are they different?
The paw print is simply an old-fashioned potato stamp, with fingerprints for the toes. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to cut the potato into a reasonable shape.
Dog Craft Materials
Potato (I used a small red one)
Paring knife (for the adult to use)
Paint (washable tempera worked well)
Paper towels
Paper
Paint smock for child
Dog Craft Instructions
1. Cut the potato in half. Slice off the edges to form a rounded triangle. Then trim it further to resemble a dog’s paw. No need to be perfect with it!
2. Fold up a paper towel and dampen it with water. Squeeze some paint onto the towel and spread it around a bit with the potato.
3. Stamp onto the paper. Dip fingers into the paint and stamp the dog’s toes.
I hope you and your child have fun with this dog theme craft.
You may also like these posts from Books and Giggles:
Adorable Animals Preschoolers Can Draw
I never would have guessed, from the picture, that the paw prints were made from potatoes. LOVE this idea!
Thanks for sharing with Kids Crafts from A-Z!!
Thanks, Deana. It was so easy using a small red potato. I cut a few more after I finished up the post because my girls liked it so much. As kindergartners, they're paying attention to patterns a lot. Isabella filled up a page with paw prints in a repeating color pattern.
This is so cute! My toddler would love to make this.
If you like making crafts from books you should join my monthly challenge. We are covering Barnyard Dance this month! I would love to have you.
http://www.raisingfairiesandknights.com/monthly-book-club/