This is a lovely and simple tutorial which is great to do as a group holiday activity with kids. Or you could just make them for your own amusement! There are three animals to make and an extra hand really comes in handy when creating the characters.
Supplies
- Print-outs of the three templates.
- Thick paper.
- Scissors.
- Double-sided tape.
Step 1: Create Your Fox's Tail
Print out the three supplied templates onto a fairly thick paper. Begin with your fox character which are the pieces in orange. Cut around the shape that looks like the tail.
Using a friend to help, wrap the thin orange strip around your hand and fasten with double-sided tape so that the tail fastens like a bracelet. Make sure that the tail points towards your head as the hand will act as the fox's body.
Bend the fox's tail at the point where it meets the bracelet. This simply avoids any unwanted folding from playing later on.
Step 2: Make the Ears
Cut out the ears from the template provided. Place over your middle finger with the ears centered either side of it.
Turn your hand over and place a small piece of double-sided tape to join the ears to act like a ring. Cut off any excess paper if your finger is smaller than the ring length provided.
Your ears and tail should now look like this:
Step 3: Craft the Fox's Nose
Cut out the shape from the template that looks like the shape below.
Create a cone shape by curving both the edges until they meet. Use double-sided tape to stick the two ends together.
Cut across the cone shape at the point that you would like the nose to end. Remember the longer you leave the cone shape the more pointed a nose your fox will have. Alternatively, the smaller you cut it the stumpier the nose!
Step 4: Attach the Face to the Nose
Cut out the eyes from the template.
Stick a strip of double-sided tape to the top of the cone and to the side where the nose can be seen and not the fold. Carefully place the eyes layer on top of the cone so that they are slightly overlapping and the tape cannot be seen.
Carefully place the face shape on to the tip of your middle finger.
Step 5: Create the Paws
Cut out all four of the paw shapes from the template.
Then cut out all four strips of orange from the template provided.
Wrap one of the strips around each four fingers, not including the middle finger. Using double-sided tape create a cylinder with each strip. Using the tape again, place a section onto the paw shape and attach the cylinder onto each of these.
Once stuck, place all four onto the tips of your fingers and your hand will have transformed into a fox!
Step 6: Creating your Rabbit Hand Animal
The rabbit animal is very similar to the fox but there are some changes that are worth noting. The ears of the rabbit are quite large so in the same way that we bent the fox's tail back, you may want to do the same with these ears to avoid unwanted creases.
We preferred our rabbit's nose to be shorter in order to make it appear cuter and therefore cut the whole cone shape nearer to the nose.
Step 7: Crafting your Reindeer
The reindeer's antlers are probably one of the fiddliest parts to cut out in this tutorial. If kids are making this tutorial, they may need a hand from an adult.
All the other aspects are very much the same as the other two animals. Multiple print-outs of this template could mean a whole herd of Santa's reindeers are created, and a little red nose could easily be stuck on to one of their faces!
