3 Letter Z Crafts for Preschoolers (Easy Ideas)

Start here: three letter Z crafts that always work

Paper plate zebraA plate and black strips, a three does itLetter Z zebraThe classic Z craft, one letter and stripesHandprint zoo animalsFour handprints become a whole zoo

3 letter Z crafts for preschoolers, with pictures

1. Letter Z zebra

The child glues black stripes across a white Z and adds a head, ears and mane to make a zebra.

You need: white construction paper, black construction paper, light green paper, 1 googly eye, glue stick

How to make it

1. You cut a large capital Z from white paper. Your child glues it on the light green sheet.
2. Cut thin black strips, some short ones for the mane, and 2 small white triangles.
3. Your child glues the black strips across the Z as stripes.
4. Glue the 2 white triangles at the left end of the top bar as ears, with the short strips standing up beside them as a mane.
5. Glue the googly eye at the left end of the top bar.

2. Handprint zoo animals

The child stamps handprints and turns each one into a zoo animal such as a lion, elephant or giraffe with a marker.

You need: grey paint, yellow paint, black marker, orange marker, 2 googly eyes, 1 sheet of white paper, glue

How to make it

1. Paint your child's hand grey. Press it on the left of the paper, four fingers pointing down and the thumb sticking out to the side. Wash the hand.
2. Paint the hand yellow and press it on the right the same way. Let both dry.
3. Elephant: glue one googly eye above the thumb trunk, then draw a big ear and a short tail in black.
4. Lion: glue one googly eye on the thumb head, scribble an orange mane around it and draw a black tail.

3. Paper plate zebra

The child paints or glues black stripes onto a white paper plate and adds ears, a muzzle and a mane.

You need: 1 small paper plate, black paint, white and pink paper, grey paper, short pieces of black yarn, 2 googly eyes, black marker and glue

How to make it

1. Your child paints thick black stripes in from the left edge and the right edge, leaving the middle white. Let it dry.
2. You cut 2 white ears with pink centers. Glue them at the top of the rim, with the black yarn between them as the mane.
3. Cut a grey oval and glue it at the bottom as the muzzle. Draw 2 nostril dots with the marker.
4. Glue the 2 googly eyes above the muzzle.

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Stripes, handprints and the letter Z with a 3 year old

The paper plate zebra is the low-prep one. Cut black paper strips ahead of time, and your child glues them across a white plate. Stripes do not need to be straight, a zebra still looks like a zebra.

Handprint zoo animals use three or four colors of paint, one print per animal. Press the hand, lift straight up, then let it dry before the marker faces go on. A three year old does the prints, you draw the first face and they copy.

Draw the Z big on the paper and let your child trace it with a finger before the stripes go on. Zebra, zoo and zigzag, three Z words from one craft.

The two zebras make a pair on the wall. The zoo handprints make a small book if you fold the sheet, with one animal per page.

More crafts for preschoolers

• Alphabet and letter crafts
• Zoo crafts for preschoolers
• Elephant crafts for preschoolers
• Lion crafts for preschoolers
• Jungle and giraffe crafts for preschoolers
• All crafts for preschoolers, by theme, holiday and letter

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