Your kids will love making this sweet and adorable paper sloth craft. With the free template, your kids will have so much fun cutting and gluing together their own sloths!
Kids love sloths, and it’s easy to see why. These drowsy tree-dwellers are super cute and look nice and cuddly. Their facial coloring makes them appear like they are always happy and smiling. Plus, what kids wouldn’t like to just chill and hang on tree branches all day?
Your kids will fall in love with this adorable paper sloth craft. With the free printable template, this sloth craft is easy to make. It’s the perfect activity for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and even International Sloth Day (October 20)!
Depending on what occasion you are making this sloth craft for, you can switch up what the sloth is holding. It makes sense for the sloth to hold a heart for Valentine’s Day. But if you are making the sloth just for fun, you can have it hold a tree branch with its favorite food, leaves from the cecropia tree!
How to Make a Valentine’s Day Sloth Craft
Supplies
- Free printable sloth craft template
- Colored craft/construction papers (light brown, tan, cream, white, and red)
- Craft glue
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Black marker
Instructions
Prepare the Sloth Template Pieces
1. Download and print the free sloth craft template. Cut out all the patterns.
2. Trace the body and arm patterns on the light brown construction paper. Trace the eye patches on tan construction paper, the face pattern on white construction paper, and lastly, the chest pattern on cream construction paper. If you don’t have cream-colored paper, you can use white for the chest.
Chose a heart from the template. Trace the heart pattern on red construction paper.
Cut out all the template pieces you traced. Set aside the heart.
Putting the Sloth Template Pieces Together
3. Glue the eye patch piece on both sides of the round white pattern. The round edges should face each other with a small space in between the two
Glue the chest piece on the body pattern right below the head.
4. Using scissors, trim the eye patches so that the outer edges align with the round face pattern.
5. Glue the round face pattern on the head.
6. Glue the arm pieces to the body of the sloth, one on each side. You can decide how far you want the arms to go and if you want the hands to touch (depending on if your sloth is holding anything).
7. Using scissors, trim the outer edges of the arms so that they are aligned with the body pattern.
8. Use a black marker to draw the eyes, nose, and mouth of the paper sloth craft.
9. If you are making the paper sloth craft for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, glue the heart underneath one arm of the sloth so that it looks the sloth is holding the heart.
Even though kids love sloths because of their cute appearance, they might not know too much about the slowest animal in the world. Here are some fun sloth facts to share with your kids while making this sloth craft!
- Sloths are able to sleep upside down while hanging from a tree branch.
- Sloths only poop once a week and can lose 1/3 of their body weight from pooping.
- Sloths are great swimmers and can swim 3 times faster than they can move on the ground.
- Three-toed sloths can turn their heads almost 360 degrees (how far can you turn your head?).
I hope you and your kids enjoyed making this sloth craft. Your kids can give it to friends and family as a homemade gift for Valentine’s Day, or your kids can make it for moms and grandmas for Mother’s Day. And if your kids really love sloths, you can make it again for Father’s Day, but substitute the heart for a tie!
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