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Stuffed Animal Taxidermy

October 15, 2021
By Alexis Adrianse, Programming Librarian, Dorr (Mich.) Township Library

Stuffed Animal Taxidermy is a fun program for kids and teens. Using old, thrifted stuffed animals, kids can give their faux furry friends a new "life" by turning them into a DIY home decoration. 

Thanks to community donations and Amazon purchases, our youth had a blast at this in-person program. 

Audience
Children / Family
Popular Topics
Coloring, Crafts & Hands-on
Budget
$1-50
Advance Planning

We first found the idea through a Discord group that my coworker is a part of. The original post in the group had old stuffed animals that they were trying to repurpose and came up with the idea to share.

We then asked for community donations of stuffed animals and bought the wooden mounting boards from Amazon. We made our own taxidermied stuffed animal ahead of time to have a sample to show the kids and to work out any kinks that arose.

Marketing

We market our programs through our newsletters and social media pages. We have Facebook events that go out all at once and then small reminders up to the event.

Budget Details

We got our stuffed animals from community donations and supplemented those with thrift store purchases. We spent $10 on the stuffed animals and ended up with 30 of them.

We then bought the boards from Amazon; a 12-pack cost us $16.99 We already had hot glue guns, glue sticks and paint stocked.

Day-of-event Activity

On the day of the event, we set up our tables and covered them. We put a cup of each paint color, brushes, and two ready-to-go hot glue guns on each table. 

The stuffed animals and boards were arranged at an empty table for the kids to choose from when they got there.

Program Execution

We had a full class of 12 with a waitlist. Once everyone arrived, the kids chose their stuffed animals and board. They began by painting their board. While the board was drying, they carefully cut the head off of their animal and either glued or sewed the bottom shut. Gluing or sewing depends on the comfort level of each child.

When everything was dry, they hot glued the animal head onto the board and added any stickers or embellishments they wanted.

Advice

The kids can get a little overexcited when cutting off the heads so make sure to keep an eye on them. Offer assistance with the scissors if it looks like they are struggling.

Submitted by harata on Fri, 2021-10-15 09:54

Short Title
Stuffed Animal Taxidermy
By Alexis Adrianse, Programming Librarian, Dorr (Mich.) Township Library

Stuffed Animal Taxidermy is a fun program for kids and teens. Using old, thrifted stuffed animals, kids can give their faux furry friends a new "life" by turning them into a DIY home decoration. 

Thanks to community donations and Amazon purchases, our youth had a blast at this in-person program. 

Attachments
instructions_and_item_links.pdf
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Tags
children's program
kids program
in person program
Craft
art
diy
animal
stuffed animal
Program Date
Mon, 2021-10-11
Slideshow Images
  • Photograph of finished stuffed animal taxidermy board. Text on the orange board reads: "There is no better mirror than an old friend" with the name Oscar written below.
  • Photograph of finished stuffed animal taxidermy board. Dog on green board with white bone illustration.
  • Photograph of finished stuffed animal taxidermy board. Monkey head on a green board with an elephant illustration and the name Gordie written bellow.
  • Photograph of finished stuffed animal taxidermy board. Pink leopard on a pink board with the name Sparkle written below.
Summary

Give old stuffed animals a new life with this stuffed animal taxidermy craft.

Comments:

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