Letter Z Preschool Craft: Take the Animals to the Zoo

This is a fun and educational craft where preschool and kindergarten age students will use paper rectangles to form a zoo in the shape of the letter z and then add animals stickers as they “take the animals to the zoo.”

Skills Explored:

shape and sound of the letter z
identifying rectangles
counting to 4
naming zoo animals
fine motor skills of cutting and gluing (optional)

stickers and construction paper for z is for zoo craft

Materials Needed:

1 sheet of construction paper (9x12 or similar) in a dark color for the background (The Tru-Ray brand linked to below is my favorite because of the intense saturation of the colors — plus it’s fade resistant.)
1 sheet of printer paper (can also be construction paper but should be in a contrasting color to the background)
scissors
glue stick
zoo animal stickers

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child putting animal stickers over paper letter z

Prep in advance:

Fold the sheet of printer paper in half horizontally, then fold in half again. Open it up and you should see three creases that separate the paper into four rectangle strips. Cut these strips apart so you have four separate rectangles. (3 of these rectangle strips will be used to shape the large letter z on your background paper and will then serve as the open cage for the animal stickers.)
The fourth strip of printer paper from step 1 will need to be cut into smaller rectangle strips. You can do this by first cutting the whole strip in half horizontally. Then cut the two halves into 2 or 3 thinner rectangle strips each. These will serve as the bars for the cage and will be added once all the animal stickers have been put inside.
You can enhance the study of rectangles, by making sure you have examples of rectangles (blocks, boxes, books, etc…) in the room where you will do this activity.

z is for zoo animals preschool craft with animal stickers

To do the activity:

Hold up the sheet of construction paper and tell the child(ren) that the paper is the shape of a rectangle. Run your finger around the sides of the paper to point out that it has four straight sides and four corners. Count the sides and corners together. Look around the room for other rectangles (windows, doors, tabletop, etc…). Get up and go trace and count the sides of those other rectangles.
Lay out the pre-cut strips of printer paper to show that they are also rectangles. Have kids touch all four corners, counting as they go.
Glue three of the printer paper strips onto the construction paper background to form a letter z. Let the child help you. (They can do the glue.) Show each part of the letter z as you glue it down. Do the top strip first (since that’s what we draw first when we are writing the letter z). Then add the second strip to make the diagonal part of the z. Finally add the bottom strip. (Let the child do as much as possible.) Use your finger and trace the whole letter z while saying the sound z makes. zzzzzz Ask the child to do the same. (Repeat tracing and sounding out the letter z multiple times.
Next, tell the child(ren)it’s time to take the animals to the zoo. Show them how to add the zoo animal stickers on top of the letter z one at a time. Say the name of each animal as they add that sticker and ask them to make the sound that animal makes if they know it.
Once all the sticker animals are placed onto the letter z, point to the animals together and name them one at a time. Then name an animal and see if the child can point to it. If they’re struggling with this, tell them to point to an animal and you name it for them. Have the child repeat the name. Ask the child(ren) which animal(s) they like. Take the time to talk about as many animals as time and patience allows for.
Finally, glue the remaining paper strips over the animals to form the bars of the cage. Children should be able to do this part mostly independently once you show them to add a bit of glue to each end of the paper strip and then place it vertically from the top part of the z to the bottom part of the z going right over the animal stickers.

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Are you participating in our Seasonal Themes Letter of the Week study? You can find the other themes for the alphabet listed here along with a printable calendar checklist.