As part of our Safari Activity Plans, our littles practice a lot of their letters and letter recognition. This craft activity is designed to do just that for the letter “H”. Who wouldn’t love practicing the letter “H” with this smiling hippo? This project is also good for practicing listening and following directions skills. Modifications for different levels and abilities will be outlined throughout. Let’s make this happy hippo and teach toddlers letters!
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What You Need:
- Paper
- Glue
- Scissors
- Markers or crayons
- Hippo template (grab it here or below!)
- Googly eyes (optional)
How to Make the happy hippo:
First cut out the hippo.
Get your free template here! It includes cut outs for the entire project!
Next glue it all together.
First glue the head down. Show your toddler how to put glue on only the top half of the head, above the line where the arrow is pointing.
Next, glue the bottom half of the mouth down under the head.
Now it is time to glue the inside of the mouth. Make sure there is a border around the outside for the hippo lips!
Now it is time to add the tongue!
The last thing to glue down are the teeth. If your child wants the front teeth of the hippo to show when the mouth is closed, help them glue the teeth a little lower on the lip so they hang out a little.
Add the Eyes and Nose
We love to use googly eyes on our projects, but if your kiddo would rather draw the eyes, that is awesome too!
Little Miss decided to use one google eye and one jewel sticker. Whatever your kiddo decides to use, let them do it. This is the time to let their creativity shine!
And don’t forget to draw two circles for the nose!
Teach toddlers letters: H for Hippo.
Show your child where to glue down the letter H. Then have them trace the letter with their markers as you talk about the sound it makes, what it looks like, and how Hippo starts with the letter H.
Finish!
Once your child has finished with the letter H, give them some time to decorate the rest of their paper and hippo as they want!
If your toddler enjoyed this project, they will love our other letter recognition projects as well. You can find them all by clicking here.
And don’t forget to do the rest of our hippo projects!
