Paper Cup Frog Craft

Are you looking for a fun craft to make with your children for Book Week? These paper cup frogs, were inspired by one of this year’s CBCA, shortlisted Early Childhood Books, “Snap!,” written and illustrated by Anna Walker. The frogs also double as a fun cup and ball game, just add string and a pom pom, to start the fun!

“Tap, tap tap … Frog thinks there’s no one else in the forest, but you never know what’s just around the corner …“
Celebrated creator Anna Walker, invites us to hear with our eyes as we follow frog on a rollicking escapade in this pitch-perfect pre-school soundscape.”

“Snap!” by Anna Walker is such a fun story for small children. They will delight in the sounds and movement as frog journeys through the forest meeting some unexpected creatures along the way. The illustrations are vibrant, fun and full of small details. The text is written in onomatopoeia and will have children joining in with sounds and actions. Children will love following this gorgeous little frog on his adventures through the forest.

To make your paper cup frog, you will need the following craft supplies:

Supplies

• Paper Cup
• Colour paper
• Pom Pom
• String/wool
• Tapestry needle
• Gluestick
• Scissors
• Grey lead pencil
• Colour pencils/markers
• Black fine liner or marker
• Template

Step 1

To make your paper cup frog, download and print the template on white paper.

Step 2

Cut out the template, and trace around the pieces on colour paper. Cut out the pieces.

Your pieces should look similar to the ones below.

Step 3

Cover and glue the largest piece of colour paper to your cup. This will be the body of your frog. The cup I used was 9 cm high, you might need to trim the paper to fit the cup or cut a larger size, if you have a bigger cup.

Step 4

Add the tummy patch to your body. The bottom of the cup is the bottom of the frog. The opening of the cup should face up.

Step 5

Attach your legs to the sides of the cup. Fold a small strip of the frog legs over to create a flap. My fold is approx. 1 cm from the edge. Apply glue to the outside of the fold and attach the legs to the side of the cup 1 cm from the bottom.

Step 6

Make your frog some eyes. To make the eyes, layer the white and black circles on top of the green eye piece and glue in place. To attach to your body, run a small strip of glue along the front bottom of your eyes. Attach to the inside of the cup.

Step 7

Give your frog a smile. Glue your pink circles to your frog’s body, just under it’s eyes. Draw a cute little smile with a black fine line pen or maker.

Our froggy friend is finished! However, if you would like to make your frog into a toy, why not add a pom pom on a string, to make a cup and ball game.

Step 8

Pierce the bottom of the cup with a tapestry needle or skewer and thread through some embroidery floss, string, or wool. Tie a knot in the end so it doesn’t slip through the hole. I also added some sticky tape to the bottom to help secure it in place.

Step 9

Using the needle, thread the embroidery floss through the centre of a pom pom and tie another knot to stop the thread from slipping back through the pom pom.

Your frog cup and ball game is now ready to play. How many times in a row can you get the pom pom in the cup? Or in one minute? Can you beat your friends?

Feeling arty? Why not colour in your template with colour pencils or markers.

Here are our froggy friends hanging out together! Don’t they look so cute! I hope you have lots of fun making and playing with your paper cup frog.

Looking for some Book Week display inspiration? Take a look at the tree I made, using cardboard boxes and papier mache, for this year’s theme “Read, Grow, Inspire.”

Looking for another fun Book Week craft activity? Why not try one of these fun crafts: Cardboard Tube Penguin with Woolly Hat inspired by “Frank’s Red Hat” by Sean Avery or these cute Puppy Dog Ears. I originally created these ears for “When Billy Was a Dog,” but they would also be a great craft to go with this year’s shortlisted book, “Lionel and Me” by Corinne Fenton.