Learn some fun facts about the zebra as you make this easy and fun handprint zebra craft! Perfect for young kids like toddlers and preschoolers!

There are many things we use on a daily basis without thinking about how they came about to be. Who thought of it in the first place? When was it first introduced?

These were my thoughts when I was crossing the road the other day, thinking about the zebra crossing. I searched online and here’s what I found – it was British MP James Callaghan who came up with the name. When he was shown the first designs for a pedestrian crossing and saw that they featured black and white lines, he was instantly reminded of a zebra. The rest is history!

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5 Fun Facts about Zebra Stripes

Every zebra’s stripes are unique, and help zebras recognize each other
Zebras have dark skin and white stripes rather than black on white
The zebra’s stripes keeps it safe by confusing predators and bugs
Scientists believe the stripes may also regulate body temperature
There are three species of zebra, but only the Plains Zebra have stripes that extend to the belly

If you found that fascinating, why not have some fun with a zebra craft? Here’s one that’s great for young kids, and they can have making each stripe different from the others!

Simple Handprint Zebra Craft for Kids

Supplies required:

Colored craft papers
Pencil
Craft glue
Googly eyes
A pair of scissors
Sharpies

How to make the handprint zebra craft:

1. Download and print the Handprint Zebra Craft template. The template includes parts of the zebra, like the head, face, mane, tail, outer ears and inner ears. The template also includes a handprint, but you can also use your own. Instead of using the one in the template, place your child’s hand on paper and draw an outline around it.

2. Trace the parts of the template on craft papers of your choice and cut them out. Of course, we’re going with white for the zebra – only then can we draw black stripes on it! The mane and tail tip will obviously be black, while the lower face can be grey. We’ve chosen pink for the inner ears.

3. Let’s start the assembly of our handprint zebra craft with something super simple – stick the inner ears inside the outer ears.

4. Stick the lower face cutout on the bottom half of the zebra’s head.

5. Attach the ears to the top of the head, sticking them on the left and right sides. Make sure to apply glue to the back of the zebra’s head.

6. Time to give our zebra a cute hairdo! Stick the mane on the back of the head, so that it is visible from behind the year and above the head.

7. Time to take out your handprint, whether you’ve made it yourself or used the one provided in the template. Place it upside down so that the wrist end is pointing up and the fingers are pointing down. This is the zebra’s body – stick the head on top.

8. The thumb of our handprint is going to be the tail of our handprint zebra craft, so stick the little tail tip to the end of the thumb.

9. Take a black Sharpie and draw little nostrils and a cute smile on the lower face of the zebra. Looks like he’s quite pleased with how he’s turning out!

10. Now to give the zebra that which’ll make him iconic – his stripes! Use your black Sharpie to draw stripes in the shape of long triangles. Add short stripes to his legs and longer ones for his body. Shade in the finger tips of the handprint to resemble feet.

11. Complete your zebra by sticking on some googly eyes on his face.

There you go – your handprint zebra craft is complete and it’s looking great!

You can go ahead and make multiple zebras using this template, and you’ll find that all of them have very unique patterns of stripes – much like real zebras!

If you like zebras, you’re sure to enjoy these zebra crafts: