At a Glance
This Build a Cute Puppy craft has your preschool, kindergarten and other young learners cutting out the pieces and sticking them together to make their own floppy-eared friend. A simple cut and paste activity, it builds scissor skills, fine motor control and hand-eye coordination, with color and black-and-white templates so children can decorate their puppy however they like.
Not every house has room for a real puppy, but a paper one? That’s much easier! This Build a Puppy craft lets your little learners make their own, complete with big floppy ears and a little tail for wagging! They’ll need to carefully snip out those pieces and put them together in the right way to make this cute pet!
And here’s a good little fact to share while you craft: Dogs have up to 300 million scent receptors packed into those little noses, compared to about six million in ours, which means their sense of smell is loads better than ours.
While all that cutting and gluing is happening, there is plenty going on underneath – scissor control a fine motor workout and the careful hand-eye coordination it takes to get those ears sitting just right. If your little ones enjoy this one, our build a cat craft makes a lovely companion for anyone who wants both pets.
And if you’re a teacher, this simple craft could also make a brilliant animal themed activity for the classroom!
Other cut and paste crafts you may want to check out:
Or you can browse all the other printable cut and paste crafts here.
What Skills Can Your Children Learn And Practice?
When making this cute dog, your children will have the chance to practice and develop some skills such as:
- Cutting Skills – if you feel they’re ready, you can let them have a go at cutting out the pieces all by themselves – they’ll need to be careful and have good scissor control if they want to cut out the pieces neatly
- Fine Motor Skills – when they’re sticking and picking up and moving the parts and placing them where they need to go
- Hand-Eye Coordination – lining up the pieces takes steady visual tracking and careful hand control.
- Pencil Control – if you print off the black and white version they can practice their pencil control and develop hand strength through coloring.
This simple craft will also give them a chance to practice their concentration and perseverance skills as they may find it tricky to place the pieces exactly where they want them to go.
How To Prepare This Simple Puppy Craft
First you’re going to want to download the baby animal templates by clicking on the download button at the bottom of the page – I’ve made a color and a black and white version.
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Other materials you’ll need:
- Safety scissors
- Card stock or Craft paper
- Some good glue
- Some coloring pencils or pens or other artsy materials
Once you’ve downloaded the templates, you’ll need to print them off onto paper or card.
Then, you can cut them out. Or if you’d like your children to get some cutting practice, you can let them have a go.
Then you can stick all the pieces together to make the dog.
It can be really nice to let your kids have a bit of free rein here and see if they can work it out – kind of like a puzzle.
If they’re struggling, the order I’d do it in is:
- Stick the ears to the head
- Stick the collar onto the body
- Stick the head onto the body
- Stick the front paws on
- Stick the back legs on
- Stick the tail on
(I expect you could have worked that out but I do like to be thorough…)
The finished one should look something like this:
What a cutie!
If you want to, you could always laminate the pieces before putting them together and use them as a puzzle. That way, the different parts would be kept nice and they can use them again and again.
After that you’re all done!
Let your kids practice their cutting and sticking skills in a simple and fun way!
But Wait… There’s Also A Black And White Puppy Template!
I’ve also made a black and white version which would be an awesome way for your little ones to practice their coloring skills and personalize their pet in their own way!
So why not crack out the markers, crayons, paints or collage (or all of them if you’re feeling adventurous) and let your kids get creative!
Some Other Ways You Could Use This Puppy Activity
There is plenty more in this little dog than a single craft session. Here are some ways to keep the tails wagging:
Make a Reusable Puzzle
If you have a laminator, this craft doubles nicely as a build-it-again puzzle. Laminate the pieces and your little ones can take their puppy apart and rebuild it as many times as they like. You could then always mix and match with some others and they can create some crazy creatures!
Give Your Puppy a Name Tag
Cut a small circle or bone shape for a collar tag and have your little ones write their puppy’s name on it. Naming something they made themselves is a brilliant motivator for early writing. Ask them why they chose that name for a bit of extra language practice.
Build a Dog House to Match
Every puppy needs somewhere to live. Hand out small boxes, leftover recycling and tape and set your little learners the challenge of building a dog house their paper puppy actually fits inside. Or they could just draw one if you’re in more of a rush?
Talk About Looking After a Puppy
Real puppies need feeding, walking, brushing and a lot of love. Chat about what a puppy needs every single day and what jobs your little ones could help with.
Add More Pets to the Family
Once the puppy is done, keep the collection growing. There are plenty more animals waiting in our cut and paste crafts, so your little ones can build loads and sort them into pets, farm animals and wild animals as they go.
Celebrate National Dog Day
If you want a real-world hook, National Dog Day falls on August 26 each year and celebrates dogs of every shape and size while encouraging adoption from shelters. You can find it and plenty more dates worth marking on our Special Day Calendar.
However you choose to use this craft, I hope you and your little ones like it!
And you can check out more awesome animal activities here!
Enjoy and let’s nurture those neurons!
