What child doesn’t like playing with little toy animals? With this easy tutorial, they can make their own! All you need are some brightly colored pipe cleaners, a few basic tools, and the printable below. Before you know it, your kids will be creating imaginative scenes in a pet shop or animal adoption center. And I’ll just bet these colorful critters will have cute conversations, too.

• Card stock
• Pipe cleaners/chenille stems
• Scissors
• Thin marker
• Tape
• Posable Pet Pals Template

Step 1
Print the pet pals template on card stock, then cut out the pieces.

Step 2
Wrap a pipe cleaner around a thin marker. Leave a little bit straight at each end. One end will be where the head attaches, and the other end will be the tail. Slide the spiral pipe cleaner off of the marker.

Step 3
Tape one of the pet faces onto the pipe cleaner at one end. You can coordinate the colors so that their faces match their bodies, or you can mix and match!

Step 4
From a second pipe cleaner of the same color, cut two short pieces that will be the legs. You can adjust the length, depending on how long you want the legs to be. For dogs and cats, 3 to 4 inches is good. For bunnies, 2 inches is better.

Wrap each piece around the bottom of the spiral with one at the front and one at the back. Fold the tip of each leg up to make little feet.

Step 5
With the pieces now attached, you can pose your pet and give it something good to eat. If your new pal is well behaved, be sure to give it a treat too!

You can make the bunny bodies a little thicker by using a thick marker to wrap the pipe cleaners, or loosen the wrapping some at the center. And remember: bunnies have tiny tails and short legs!

These pets are so much fun to play with and pose in different ways. Let them play together and share a snack. You could even try training them to do some tricks (If you have any tips for that, let me know!).

There are so many possibilities for imaginative play with these critters!

There’s only one last thing to do…give each of your new pet pals a name!