Brainstorm zoo animal ideas with your preschooler. If you have just been on a trip to the zoo, ask the child to name some of the various creatures that you encountered. If you have not been to the zoo, look in books or online for pictures/photos of animals. Help the preschooler select one animal to create. List the physical features of the animal such as how many legs it has, body shape, ear size and shape, color, pattern, texture or if it has a tail, horn or trunk.
Lay an 8 by 10 inch or larger piece of light-color construction paper on a flat table or work space such as a desk. Place a small, side-salad-size paper plate in the middle. Trace the plate with a marker to create a head for the zoo animal. Cut the circle out with scissors.
Lay a second piece of paper on your workspace. Trace a meal-sized paper plate with a marker. This will be the animal's body. Cut the circle out with scissors.
Draw legs and/or a tail for your animal by making rectangles on a third sheet of construction paper with markers. Cut these out.
Glue the basic structure of the animal together. Assemble the pieces, like a puzzle, with the head in front and the legs/arms/paws in the proper places on the sides or bottom of the body. Place small dabs of clear-drying school glue near the edges where the body parts will overlap.
Add ears, a trunk or other appendages with your leftover paper scraps. Draw the shapes for the extra pieces onto your leftover construction paper and cut them out with the scissors. Glue the cut paper in the appropriate areas.
Add facial features such as a mouth, eyes, nose or snout and whiskers by drawing lines and shapes with a marker. For example, a lion's nose may look like a triangle. The child will draw the triangle with a marker onto the middle of the head circle.
Create patterns, texture, fur, scales or another body surface with paint. Use finger paints (and hands) to dab and dip markings or use a brush to splash on a fuzzy look. For example, if you are designing bear fur, dip the brush into brown paint. Press the brush onto the surface of the paper animal, pull up and repeat to make a rougher looking fur effect as compared to a smooth brush stroke appearance.