How to Make a Newspaper Hippopotamus Craft

If you a regular here at I Heart Crafty Things you are sure to know how fascinated I have become in the past year with using newspaper for crafting. Not only is it such a versatile medium but I love the mixed media and textured look of the projects we have created with newspaper. This newspaper hippopotamus craft we are sharing today might be a new favorite. After seeing how absolutely adorable it is you wouldn’t believe how simple it is to create, but really, it’s simple.

How to Make a Newspaper Hippopotamus Craft

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Supplies:

light blue cardstock
newspaper
blue tissue paper
googly eyes
mini marshmallows (optional)
gray or pink marker
scissors
glue

Love Newspaper Crafts? See also → Newspaper Polar Bear Craft

Instructions:

1. Gather your supplies. Begin by cutting pieces out of your newspaper for your hippopotamus. You’ll need an oval for the body, two legs, two ears, a head and a mouth. If you’d like to add marshmallow teeth to your hippo you’ll need to make the mouth big enough to fold in half so it can open and close. See picture below for reference.

2. Glue your legs and oval hippo body onto the bottom of your light blue cardstock. Glue the ears onto the back of the hippo head and the folded mouth at the bottom of the hippo head. Then glue the hippo head onto the blue cardstock, on top of the hippo body.

3. Glue your googly eyes onto your hippo face. Use your gray or pink marker to draw nostrils on the front of the hippo mouth.

4. Open up the hippo mouth and glue on several mini marshmallows.

5. Finish your newspaper hippopotamus craft by gluing a strip of blue tissue paper at the bottom of your paper. You can see a shadow of the hippo legs underneath the tissue paper so it looks like your hippo is relaxing in a body of water.