Our friendly Lion from our Safari Adventure Kit is used here to create this super simple activity to create a beautiful wall hanging filled with memories of your lockdown year together as a family.

All you need:
The free print out below
A small cardboard box
Black marker pen
Parcel tape, double sided tape or strong glue.

Simply print out the artwork here, then carefully cut around the thick black line of the lion’s head, (we’ve left his mane as reference).

Next, glue the head onto some card and trim to the same shape. To create the mane we used a cardboard box to cut strips from. Cutting is a wonderful, fine motor skill for your child to try and do, especially as corrugated cardboard allows the child to follow the grooves of the card making it even easier for them to cut in a straight line.

You will need to cut around 20 strips, each one around 11-12 cm in length and around 1-2 cm wide. Arrange the strips in a circular shape, tape together in the middle as shown, (we used parcel tape), then join together using a strong glue or double sided tape.

Now for the really fun bit! Get your family together and think of words which will remind you of your lockdown year together. This could be activities you’ve done or feelings you’ve experienced. For example, bike rides, kitchen discos, lots of hugs, bird watching, woodland walks, etc. Then start writing each one onto a strip of the Lion’s mane using a thick, black marker pen. Once you’ve filled in each strip, your Lockdown Lion is ready to hang or stick on your wall to help you remember all those fun times in this crazy 12 months!

If all this talk about Lions has got you wanting to plan a trip to a zoo…the countdown is on with many UK zoo’s hopefully opening their doors again on April 12. But in the meantime, there are lots of fun activities on Zoo websites for families missing seeing these animals. Many have live web cam’s operating and blogs featuring their latest news. For example, London Zoo’s blog has recent posts where you can meet their amazing wolverine family and white rhinos. There is also a wonderful post about how to create your own Home Hospital and perform your very own vet check on all your soft-toy animals! Check it out here.

For more Tender Leaf inspired safari animals check out these best selling toys here:

Safari Adventure
Safari Collection
Safari Binoculars