Elephant Crafts and Activities for Kids

Elephant Thematic Unit

Elephant Bubble Bath Craft

What you will need: Empty plastic water bottles, printer paper, scissors, tape, bubble bath.

What to do:

1. Print out the elephant head patterns and cut them out. (Problems Printing?)

2. Color them and then roll the trunk to make a tube shape and tape it together in the back as shown. Bring the two tabs together above the head and ears and tape them together as shown to make a loop.

3. Fold down the loop to the back of the head.

4. Fill an empty bottle with bubble bath. I used an Aquapod.

5. Place the loop over the cap of the bottle and fold down the head.

Take a bath and use your new elephant bubble bath. Pretend you are taking a bath with an elephant and he sprays you with water to rinse you off.

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Folded Paper African Elephant Craft for Kids

What you will need: Card stock (Heavy paper), scissors, glue, and crayons or markers.

What to do:

1. You must be a member of Danielle's Place and The Resource Room to access the patterns for this craft. Click here for the pattern.

©Copyright 2005, Digital by Design, Inc. - See Copyright Information

Egg Carton Elephant Craft for Kids

What you will need:  Egg cartons, markers, glue, and scissors.

What to do:

1. Cut a cup (the part that holds the egg) off the egg carton. To make the legs cut a half circle shape out of the cup on the side that was the outside edge of the carton. (See picture).

2. To make the head, trunk, and ears print out the pattern and cut it out.  Place the pattern so that the trunk part covers one of the long center cones and each ear is inside a connecting cup. (See picture) Trace the pattern onto the carton and cut it out. (Problems Printing?)

3. Color the head and body if desired and add eyes.

4. Glue the head to the body.

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Tired Elephant Paper Plate Craft for Kids

This tired little elephant is made with five paper plates, four Dixie cups and a toilet paper roll.

Go to the Paper Plates Craft Page for directions to this craft.

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TP Roll Elephant Craft for Kids

What you will need:  TP roll, card stock, glue or tape, crayons or markers, scissors.

What to do:

1. Draw an elephant body, face, and trunk as shown in the picture. Or print out the elephant patterns for this craft (available to members only) and cut them out. (Problems Printing?)

2. Color the body, head and trunk.  Glue the body onto a TP roll.

3. Fan fold the elephant's trunk and then tape it onto the head. 

4. Glue of tape the head to the body.

©Copyright 2004, Digital by Design, Inc. - See Copyright Information

Elephant Games

Pass the Peanut Relay Game -  Tell the class that they are going to pretend to be elephants. Give each child a sock to put on his or her hand (this is their trunk). If you have a large class break them in half or into teams. Give each team a peanut. The first team to pass the peanut to all the team members and back to the first player wins.  If you have a small class just have the children pass the peanut from person to person until it comes back to the start. Use a timer to see how long it takes and then do it a second time to see if they can beat their time.

Guess What is in the Box Game - Bring in a box full of different objects. Have the children take turns being the elephant. Children put socks on their hands and then reach into a box and try to guess what they are feeling with their "trunk".

Elephant Walk - Did you know that elephants walk on their toes? The soles of their feet are made of thick elastic pads that flatten with each step. Because they are so big and weigh so much, this elastic pad gives them bounce in each step. Have the children walk on their toes. Then, try to do some pattern walking. Have everyone stand in a circle. Then, call out a pattern and have everyone walk that way around the circle. For example, step, slide, tiptoe, step, slide, tiptoe. Give each child the opportunity to take up the pattern.

©Copyright 2006, Digital by Design, Inc. - See Copyright Information

No-Sew Sock Elephant Craft for Children

This little elephant was made with two children's sock and rubberbands. For directions to this craft go to the Sock Crafts for Kids Page.

©Copyright 2009, Digital by Design, Inc. - See Copyright Information

 

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Elephant Art

Elephant Recipes

1. Baked Elephant Ears

You will need: One stick of piecrust mix, medium mixing bowl, measuring spoons, hot water, fork, wood board, all-purpose flour, baking sheet, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, and a shaker or spoon.

What to do:
1. Have adult break the piecrust into little pieces in the bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of hot water. Mix with fork till the dough sticks together.
2. Sprinkle the wood board with flour. Pat your hands with flour. Form the dough into a big ball on the board and divide into 4 parts. Form each part into a ball. To make elephant ears, use your whole hand to flatten each ball. Press hard so that the dough gets thinner. It should be about 1/4 inch thick.
3. Place each piece of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Mix sugar and cinnamon. Place in shaker. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar topping on your elephant ears. Be careful not to get the sugar on the baking sheet. Have adult bake at 350: for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. (Sent in by Narita Roady)

2. Make Elephant Heads
What you will need: can biscuits (each child needs two biscuits) - cinnamon sugar - 2 raisins - a craft stick and the foil or baking paper same as above.
Give each child two biscuits. Have them place one biscuit and flatten just a little. Next with craft stick have them cut other biscuit into 3 pieces with the middle piece being narrow (this is the trunk) the 2 outside pieces are the ears.
Add to the biscuit - the 2 ears and put trunk in the middle. (Have them press the edges down so they stick to the biscuit . Add raisin for eyes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake until golden brown. The children love to eat them while still warm. (Sent in by Narita Roady)

Elephant Math Games

1. Practice Counting - Pretend to be elephants by putting a sock on your hand. Place a bowl of peanuts on the table. Grab some peanuts with your "elephant trunk". Count how many you can pick up. If your child can already count well, use this game to practice your addition facts. Pick up two handfuls of peanuts count each handful and then add them together.

2. Review addition facts with peanuts - Show your child a certain number of peanuts in your right hand. Have him count them. (Use peanuts in their shells) Use your left hand to take a certain amount of peanuts from your right hand. Keep the peanuts you have taken hidden in your left hand. Show your child how many peanuts are left in your right hand. Let him count them. Ask him how many peanuts are hidden in your left hand. Let him see the hidden peanuts and count them to see if he is correct. Put both your hands side by side and have him count all the peanuts together.

You can also write the math fact down after the child has counted the hidden peanuts in your hand. For example, start with four peanuts, have your child count them. Take away two peanuts and hide them in your other hand. Show your child that you have only two peanuts left in your hand. Let him count them. Then ask him how many peanuts you have in your other hand. He should say two. Open up your other hand and let him count them. Put your hands side by side and say, "Two plus two equals four" and then write the problem on a piece of paper.

Put all the peanuts back in your right hand and do the same thing but pick up a different amount of peanuts and hide them in your left hand. Add more peanuts once your child has mastered a certain number of peanuts to make it harder.

3. Graphing Animal Crackers - Depending on the age of your children, make up a grid pattern. Give them a handful of crackers or use the whole box. Show them how to make a graph of the animals showing how many of each animal they have. If you have older children, they can also graph the 1/2 and 1/4 animals that are broken.

4. How Many Peanuts? - (Estimating) Bring in a jar full of peanuts. Ask the children to estimate how many peanuts they think are in the jar. Count the peanuts together. Who was the closest? Then, gather several other containers of different sizes and ask the children to estimate how many peanuts will fit in each container.

5. Measuring - An adult African elephant’s trunk is about seven feet (two meters) long! Have your child decide what he thinks is about seven feet. Cut a piece of yarn or rope that long or draw a line about 7 feet on the sidewalk. Use a measuring tape to see how close your child got to seven feet.

Elephant Reading

Elephants: Elephant Magic for Kids (Animal Magic for Kids) Did you know that an elephant can run up to 35 miles per hour, it walks on its tiptoes, its trunk has more than 150,000 muscles, and it has a great memory? You and your children can find out these and even more interesting facts about elephants in this book. After reading all about elephants in this book, ask your children to see if they think they have great memories like the elephant. Challenge them to listen carefully and try to remember all the things the animals did to try to keep the elephant from sneezing in the following book. (You should be able to get these books at your local library.)   Read "Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" by Patricia Thomas - Have your children see if they can remember all the things the other animals did to try to keep the elephant from sneezing.

Read "Engelbert the Elephant" by Tom Paxton - In this story Engelbert the Elephant really stood out in the crowd. Your children will love the story and the wonderful illustrations by Steven Kellogg.

Is it spelled with a "ph" or an "f"? Have your child study the following words and write them on peanut shapes: Gopher, phase, phone, photo, nephew, dolphin, elephant, trophy, enough, foam, sheriff, effort, fudge, fume, focus, cuff, loaf. Mix up the peanuts and place them in a pile. Pick up the peanut on the top of the pile and read the word. Ask your child if it is spelled with an "f" or a "ph". If he says, "f", place it in an "f" pile. If he says, "ph", place it in a "ph" pile. When you have gone through all the peanuts turn over all the cards. See if any of the peanuts are in the wrong pile. Try again if your child missed some.

Make standout elephant displays that compare the two types of elephants - First read about the difference between Asian and African elephants. Print out two copies of the elephant display paper (Large file or small file) onto card stock. Fold the papers in half on the dotted lines. Cut two slits in the paper at the two dark lines. Unfold the paper and fold it in the opposite direction, but leave the middle part folded in the same direction. Push out the middle part and fold the paper down creasing the paper at the short dotted lines. Your paper should look like the diagram on the right.

Print out the elephant pictures (Large file or small file) and cut them out leaving a straight line at the bottom (See picture). Glue the elephants onto your display paper on the front of the rectangle that pops out. Have your child write the type of elephant on top of the paper and a description of that type on the lines below.

Elephant Songs

"The Elephant's Trunk" at Kididdle

The Elephant Goes

The Elephant

Free Sample Lessons from
The Resource Room

Free
Scaredy Cat
Daniel in the Lion's Den