Learning while having fun: DIY animals from the Crocodile Farm

Want to escape to our Tropical Reserve? Babysits and La Ferme aux Crocodiles are joining forces to introduce you to the animals of the Farm thanks to a DIY in recycled cardboard! Crocodiles, caimans, pythons… Make this craft for children and learn a lot about these fascinating animals while having fun! Little and big kids, it’s time to get your paint out and let your creativity shine!

Making our children aware of maintaining the fragile balance of our ecosystem is more important today than ever. In order to initiate the conversation with your children before or after visiting La Ferme aux Crocodiles, we have created for you this great DIY honoring the animals of the Farm! As we explain how to create these cardboard animals, we will teach you lots of fun facts about these little-known animals. You are ready ? Let’s go !

You will need: 
-Good scissors
-A tube of glue
-A pencil
-Cardboard (recycled, you’ll find it everywhere at home!)
-Paint
-Paintbrushes
-A glass of water to wash the brushes

Here are 3 of our animals present at La Ferme aux Crocodiles:

From left to right: Potter the Spectacled Caiman, Kaa the Burmese Python and Schwarzie the Nile Crocodile!

If you already have an idea of the shape of the animal you want to represent, you can directly draw its outline on the cardboard. No need to be too specific, you can add all the details later with a little paint!

We have created animal shapes (their body and head, other details may come later when finishing) to allow the child to get a first idea of Schwarzie, Potter and Kaa. To create the legs of Schwarzie and Potter, you will have to fold the places marked by the dotted lines. Do you see the little scissors drawn on the cardboard above? This part will have to be cut to allow the legs to rest correctly on the ground.

Speaking of legs…  “Did you know that a long time ago I had legs too?” But the many years during which my people have lived on Earth have made us evolve. In fact, we didn’t really need our legs and that’s why they disappeared over time! You can sometimes find small traces of our old legs on some of my species !

It’s time to grab your brushes! We used acrylic paint in the colors of our animals. Of course, if you want to add a bit of fantasy and create pink crocodiles or blue snakes, your imagination is the only limit! Once the first coat of paint is dry, you can add details with a smaller brush that will finish your animals beautifully, for example Kaa’s spots.

You will notice that we have chosen to represent two animals that look alike at first glance… Potter and Schwarzie, and here we bet you must be asking yourself the right question…

“What is the difference between a caiman and a crocodile ?” 
To begin with, the crocodile and the caiman do not belong to the same family: the caiman is part of the Alligatoridae while the crocodile is part of the Crocodilidae family. Even if these two are not part of the same family, they are still oviparous (meaning they lay eggs) and carnivores (meaning they eat meat) all the time. of them.
Distinguishing them with the naked eye is very simple: the crocodile is already larger than its cousin the caiman. Croco will have a V-shaped jaw and Cayman will have a U-shaped jaw. For those brave souls who will pay attention to Schwarzie’s teeth, the fourth tooth in the lower jaw sticks out when he closes his mouth. It is also a distinctive sign of crocodiles.

Pro tips:
In order to make perfect flat areas of paint, add a dab of white paint within your color and mix everything! This will give more consistency to your acrylic if it is transparent enough.
To represent the scales, use a small brush and you will see, the square shape of the scales will appear with each brushstroke!

Once the painting is finished and the animals are dry, you can put the pieces together to admire the final result!

And There you go ! The animals from La Ferme aux Crocodiles have come to life in your home (while guaranteeing your safety of course)! These creations will be perfect on the shelves of your little wolves, to showcase their books. They can even take them on their visits to the Crocodile Farm to introduce them to the animals!

Did you enjoy this DIY? You can check out many craft ideas for kids on the Babysits blog.
And don’t forget to share your creations with us on Instagram! Tag @lafermeauxcrocodiles and @Babysitsfr highlight your wild animals!