Lions excite the imagination of any preschool child. There are many books, movies and crafts that can be employed to build on this excitement and introduce learning concepts and skills. Begin with a book and see how preschool lion crafts and activities achieve this.
All young children love to have someone read them a story. Here are some suggestions for books to share:
Leo- The Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus
Glenda the Lion by Gary Pernick. Illustrated by J. Moffatt
Dandelion by Don Freeman
Read the story and ask the children how they would feel if they were any of the characters in these books. Would their feelings change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story?
Church school teachers you may also like to use Daniel and the Lion for preschool lion crafts and activities.
L is for Lion
Point to the letter ‘L’ at the beginning of the word ’lion’. Ask the children to sing ‘La , lal, la ’ and ask them where their tongue is when they are singing. Then say the word ’lion’ and they will discover that their tongue is in the same position for the ’l’ sound.
Provide bristol board or light card in the shape of an ‘L’. Punch holes around the shape and invite the children to use yarn to ’lace’ around the letter shape.
Tip. Instead of needles wrap a little masking tape around the end of the yarn to enable the children to thread through the holes.
Draw upper case and lower case ‘L’s’ on construction paper. Have the students use paper hole punchers to make ‘Lacy Letter L’s’.The more holes they punch in the letter shape the lacier it becomes.
Spray shaving foam onto desk or table tops and invite the children use their fingers to draw lion faces and then print the letter ‘L’ or the word lion next to their picture.
Lion Puppets
Provide small paper plates and ask the children to make a lion face on them. Give them orange and yellow yarn to add as the mane. Glue craft sticks to the back of each face and use as puppets to retell a lion story.
Another puppet idea is to use brown paper bags. Color the ‘folded’ base to look like a lion’s face. When the child places his or her hand into the fold it can be manipulated to look as if the lion’s mouth is opening and closing.
Sock puppets are easy to make. Take a sock - you know the one whose partner has been eaten by the washing machine or clothes dryer - and add felt circles for the eyes, a cloth nose, yarn or pipe cleaner whiskers. Then show the children how to put their hand inside the sock and stick up their little finger and thumb to form the ears. For male lions add a mane of yarn.
Stand-up Lions
To enhance a lion frieze show the children how to make stand-up lions. Provide sheets of brown construction paper. Fold in half length-wise and cut a half-oval from the open ends. This will form the legs and body of the lion. Add a face made from construction paper. The mane could be yarn pieces glued onto the face or fringed yellow paper.
Your preschool lion crafts will be a roaring success!
