20+ Best Lion Activities to Do with Your Kids

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I have grown up reading 📚 a lot of stories about the king 👑 of the jungle. In my household, everyone loves cats, and lions 🦁 are loved equally as magnificent members of the family of big cats.

My little cubs and I are big fans of Simba and Mufasa. My son is a big fan of The Lion King and loves to watch the movie quite often. My daughter’s favorite lion is Alex from the Madagascar movie.

Lions have been a loved part of the movies and animations for kids for ages. In fact, I have grown up watching excellent documentaries based on these magnificent 🦁creatures.

Ideal Lion Activities For Your Kids 

I loved the impactful idea 💡 of incorporating the theme of lions 🦁 in the day-to-day of my little cubs.

I have discovered several lion-themed activities for my little cubs (my son and daughter) that will give them an opportunity to boost their motor 💪and cognitive 🧠 development.

Read on to discover some of these ideal lion-themed activities I have mentioned below.

Observe The Lions

Did you know that the population of lions 🦁 is decreasing around the globe due to various factors?

With conservation and awareness programs coming up in this regard, it’s also important for us to educate our little cubs about the threats the population of this magnificent species is facing around the globe. 

  • Let me tell you that observing lions 🦁 in zoological gardens is one of the most deeply cherished and absolutely memorable experiences in life. Therefore, I make sure my little lion cubs 🦁 get a chance to watch lions and make a lot of memories.
  • Visiting zoos, national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries to take part in programs organized to educate little ones about lions and their habitats is one of my favorite activities. 

I love to watch my kids learn about the feeding habits and other relevant information about the king of the jungle. We also enjoy watching lions 🦁 in their natural habitat on a visit to national parks.

Important Note:

Kindly make sure your little cubs do not injure or hurt themselves during these activities. 

Snow Lion

With the snowy winter season here, this lion-themed 🦁 activity is quite a staple in our household. Along with making a snowman ⛄️, we also made a snow lion on the lawn. 

My little cubs and I just add cardboard cut-outs of a lion’s mane, ears, and face alongside using wires or chopsticks to create the whiskers. In fact, we wrap up suitable streamers around a slender plastic wire to make the tail of the lion, too. 

Sometimes, we also utilize candies 🍬 and chocolate 🍫 sauce to make the face of a lion 🦁 on a scoop of my little cub’s favorite 🍨 ice cream.

Food Chain Activity

Let me tell you about this extremely popular lion-themed 🦁 activity that teaches little ones about the food chain and is also loved by all the little cubs.

Lions 🦁 are carnivores, whereas deers 🦌 are herbivores. This is an amazing and simple activity for teaching kids about the whole concept of a food chain.

This activity is also ideal for boosting the counting skills 🔢 as well as motor abilities 💪 of your little cubs.

What you need- 

Cut-outs of the faces of lions 🦁 and deers 🦌, pens, dice 🎲, music 🎶 system, and green paper cut-outs (resembling grass).

Steps:

  • I teach my little cubs to cut out outlines of lions 🦁 from printed sheets. They have to wear this cut-out as a mask with the help of a thread. 
  • We cut out square or circular pieces of green paper to create patches of grass. Please make sure these grass cut-outs are big enough in size for your little cubs to stand on them.
  • I position these cut-outs (that resemble patches of grass) in a zig-zag pattern on a mattress. I wear the mask of a deer 🦌 and stand at the end of the line of these grass cut-outs.
  • I turn on my little cub’s favorite jungle-themed rhyme (we often play the title song of the movie ‘Jungle Book‘) on the loudspeaker 🎶, and the chase begins.
  • The participants of the race are lions 🦁 and need to reach the finish line to catch their prey, the deer 🦌 (that’s me), by hopping from one cut-out of a grass patch to another.
  • The deer controls the music and is expected to pause it ⏸️ at random intervals.
  • The tiny and ferocious lions will stand disqualified if they jump outside the cut-out of the grass patch by mistake or do not freeze when the jungle-themed song is paused.
  • Ultimately, the lion 🦁 who finishes first or is able to reach the deer 🦌 first will get the chance to control the music 🎶 for the next round. 
  • My younger cub (my daughter) always finishes last during this jungle activity, but her brother spoils 🤭 his little sister by letting her take up his chance to control the music.
  • Often, we use a dice 🎲 for this jungle-themed game and write numbers in ascending order on the cut-outs of the patches of grass.
  • Each person playing the role of a lion rolls a die once during every round and moves forward by jumping on the same number of cut-outs (or patches of grass) as on the side of the die facing the ceiling. 
  • The one who reaches the deer 🦌 at the end of the line first wins this jungle-themed game.

Lion Greeting Card

Making a lion-themed greeting card is an unskippable activity when we are discussing the king 👑 of the jungle.

I ask my little cubs to cut out and collect pictures of lions from all kinds of comics, newspapers, and magazines. My little cubs and I glue all of them together to create a terrific collage of lions from different regions on a greeting 💌 card.

This activity also helps my little cubs to get acquainted with the lions 🦁 who have distinct and different appearances on the basis of the diverse regions they belong to.

Important Note:

Kindly make sure your little cubs do not injure themselves while fidgeting with a pair of scissors.

Big Cats With Paws 

Lions are also a part of the cat family, and paws are one of the most common features amongst the cat family. My little cub (my daughter) loves the footprints of all the cats, including the footprints of the king of the jungle.

Therefore, I decided to make her the lioness of the jungle with cute little paws 🐾 for a day.

What you need-

Styrofoam, paint 🎨, a sharp cutter, craft glue, die 🎲 , colorful papers of different kinds of textures (such as sandpaper, handmade textured paper, chart paper, brown paper, glossy paper, kite paper, and glitter paper), marker pen, scissors, pieces threads or rubber bands.

Steps:

  • For this lion-themed themed activity, firstly, I prepare big paw-shaped 🐾 cut-outs using styrofoam sheets and a cutter.
  • Now, I draw three similar circles (recommended radius – 3 centimeters) and another outline of a circle comparatively bigger than the rest (adjust the measurements of this circle according to the radius of the smaller circular outlines) using dotted lines on the textured papers. 
  • I instruct my little cubs 🦁 to cut ✂️ along the dotted outlines marked on the paper using a pair of scissors to create the required circular and oval cut-outs. 
  • The process of learning how to handle a pair of scissors is a suitable motor activity for little cubs 🦁, and playing with different textured papers is a good sensory exercise for little children.
  • Now, I stick these cut-outs made up of styrofoam on the paws and tie this setup to the hands of my little cubs using a funky rubber band or a piece of thread.
  • They immerse these paws in paint 🎨 of diverse shades and press the paw’s impressions on the piece of white or colorful chart paper. They create an amazing lion-themed painting showcasing paws of different kinds of textures.
  • Sometimes, my little cubs and I hang this colorful chart paper with the lion’s outline on the wall. I ask them to roll a die 🎲 and recognize the number appearing on the face of the die facing towards the ceiling of the room. 
  • Then, I instruct my little cubs 🦁 to put the impressions of their paws 🐾 on the colorful chart paper an equal number of times.

Important Note:

Kindly make sure your little cubs do not injure themselves while fidgeting with a pair of scissors.

Pom Pom Lion

My little cub loves watching Simba. Therefore, this pom activity is one of his favorite jungle-themed activities. There are various ways of preparing colorful crafts and paintings of the king of the jungle, but this activity is a staple one amongst kids.

What you need-

Colorful pom poms, paint 🎨 , white papers, craft glue, and colorful marker pens.

Steps: 

  • For this jungle-themed activity, firstly, I ask my little cubs to dip in colorful pom poms in yellow, golden, and brown shades of paint.
  • Now, my little cubs can glue these colorful pom poms on the outline of the character ‘Simba’ 🦁 that I have drawn on the piece of white or colorful chart paper utilizing craft glue.
  • They also have the option to dab their impression on the colorful papers after dipping it in a palette of paint 🎨 to make a painting of Simba.
  • Either way, it is a suitable lion-themed activity for little ones.

Lion Mask and Ears

Isn’t the lion’s mane a very distinct feature of the king of the jungle in the animal kingdom?

Therefore, I decided to make a lion’s mask with ears for my little cubs in a simple way.

What you need- 

Colorful paper, wax crayons, paint 🎨, colorful marker pen, craft glue, embellishments, colorful thread 🧵, and a pair of scissors.

Steps:

  • Firstly, I create the outline of a lion’s 🦁 face with the mane on a piece of white or colorful chart paper using dotted lines and guide my little cubs (my son and daughter) to create a cut-out by running a pair of scissors along the dotted lines ( a suitable and recommended fine motor activity for little ones). 
  • Following this step, I ask my little cubs to paint, color, and decorate the lion using wax crayons and embellishments in any way they like. 
  • I cut two slits in the cut-out of the lion’s face ( where the eyes 👀 of the lion are situated) so that my cubs can see through these slits when they put on the mask. I usually tie this lion mask around the heads of my little cubs utilizing a thread.
  • To make the ears and the mane of the lion, I ask my little cubs to paint, color (using crayons), and decorate the cut-outs (using colorful papers) of the ears and the mane just in a similar manner as they prepared the cut-out of the face of the king of the jungle. 
  • I attach the ears and the mane of the lion to a strip of colorful paper using craft glue and make two holes on each end of this strip of paper.
  • I pass a piece of thread through these slits and tie this piece around the head of my children to form a headband with a mane and ears. 
  • They look like the cutest lions 🦁 running around the lawn wearing this cute lion-themed setup.
  • Sometimes, my little cubs and I also make a lion’s face by joining two Japanese paper fans to create a circular paper fan and then decorating it utilizing colorful marker pens, cut-outs of ears, mane, whiskers, and eyes.

Pro Tip 

You can attach this mask of a lion 🦁 to one end of a tissue paper or cardboard roll, place another end of it on the study table in a vertical position, and utilize this whole setup as a pencil ✏️ or pen holder.

Important Note:

Kindly make sure your little cubs do not injure themselves while fidgeting with a pair of scissors.

Woolen Lion 

Cats love playing with an adorable ball of wool 🧶; therefore, why don’t we make a cat who is the king of the jungle using a woolen ball?

I really like knitting lion-themed sweaters for my little cubs during the winter season.

My little cubs love Simba, so this lion-themed activity is her absolute favorite.

What you need- 

White or colorful chart papers, colorful balls of wool 🧶, glue, buttons, and scissors.

Steps: 

  • I mark the outline of a lion on a piece of white or colorful chart paper and coat the area lying within the outline of the lion with craft glue. 
  • I instruct my little cubs to stick the woolen thread in the form of varied patterns on the areas covered with glue. 
  • The focus and thought process involved in creating pretty patterns boosts the thinking 🤔 abilities of your little cubs. Now, we glue glitter buttons to make the eyes, along with strips of folded and colorful paper to create the whiskers.
  • As a result, we have a spectacular woolen lion and I love decorating these craft pieces on the walls of my home.
  • If your little cub doesn’t like this idea of working with glue, then you can stick two colorful buttons directly on a ball of colorful wool to create the eyes and strips of glittery paper to create pretty whiskers. You will have a stunning ball of wool 🧶 looking like a lion.

Counting Lions

I have figured out a fantastic lion-themed counting 🔢 activity for my little cubs. 

Read on to discover everything regarding this wonderful lion-themed activity.

What you need- 

Asiatic lion-printed cut-outs, white lion-printed cut-outs, bowls, and colorful pens.

Steps: 

  • I prepare cut-outs of Asiatic lions and white lions and write numbers on them from 1 to 50.
  • I jumble up all the lions in a bowl and ask my little Simba fans to segregate the white lions 🦁 in one bowl and the Asiatic lions in another. 
  • I instruct my little Simba fans to count 🔢 the total number of lions in every bowl and then add up all the numbers written on every cut-out of a lion to find the total sum. 
  • Sometimes, I write ✍️ random alphabets on the cut-outs 🔡 and ask my little Simba fans to arrange the white and Asiatic lions together to form a whole word.
  • If your little Simba fan is a toddler, you can teach them about the names of the different colors of lions belonging to different regions by guiding them through segregating the cut-outs of lions of various colors. 
  • Sometimes, I don’t feel like going through the hard work of making cut-outs of lions, so the wonderful song Ten Little Lions comes in very handy in boosting the counting skills of my little cubs.

Lion In The Tub

Now, this lion-themed sensory activity is a staple in almost every household. 

Sensory activities always have a significant role to play in the overall development of a child. 

Therefore, I never miss out on this ideal sensory 👏 activity.

What you need- 

A packet of flour, a bottle of vegetable oil, lion-themed accessories, and everything related to a jungle.

Steps: 

  • I ask my tiny cubs to think and name any ten things that remind them of the king of the jungle, the lion. 
  • I place those ten things, along with the other lion-themed accessories, tiny plastic models of other animals in a plastic bag filled with a mixture of vegetable oil and flour. 
  • I instruct my little ones to search amongst those items in the sensory bag using their hands to find the king 👑 of the jungle. Thereby improving ✅️ their sensory skills.

Lion Light Activity 

All of us have used milk that is sold in transparent bottles at least once in our lives.

I have these empty transparent milk bottles piled up at home, and I upcycle them for this lion-themed activity that is absolutely 👌 ideal for my little cubs.

What you need- 

Empty transparent bottles of milk, black paper, pencils, and LED lights.

Steps: 

  • I draw the outline of a Lion or Simba on a piece of black chart paper by drawing dots along the outline of the lion using a pen or pencil. 
  • I guide my little cubs to poke holes in the dots on the black chart paper utilizing the same pen or pencil.
  • Following this step, I usually place this piece of black paper within the transparent milk bottle (that is empty after all the milk has been used up) and add colorful LED lights inside the transparent bottle. 
  • My little cubs put on the LED lights in a dark room and are mesmerized by a fantastic Simba taking form in the bottle of milk 🫙 with the light traveling quite aesthetically through the holes.
  • Often, we create other cartoon characters of members of the jungle 🐒 🐯 and put them inside the bottle along with the king of the jungle using the same method.

Important Note:

Kindly make sure your little cubs do not injure themselves while playing with electricity or LED lights.

Read Books About the Lions

All of us have grown up reading several intriguing stories and books 📖 about various animated lions and their adventures. 

With awareness programs spreading the news of the declining populations of lions all around, reading books 📚 about these magnificent members of the animal kingdom sounds like a wonderful idea to me.

My little cubs are no exception in this case. 

Read on to discover some of the fascinating lion-themed books 📚 we love to read.

Important Note:

I will advise all parents to strictly go through the contents of any book 📖 before allowing their little cubs to read it just to be sure that the contents of the books are suitable ✅️ according to the age group of your little cubs.

Watch Lion-themed Movies 

The Lion King is the all-time favorite of kids around the globe. There are excellent documentaries 🦁 that are must-watch for your little cubs. These documentaries have been filmed excellently ✅️ and have won the hearts of audiences all around the globe.

There are many innovative and terrific movies 🎬 , shows, and animated series that are worth watching if your little cubs are fans of lions. 

Here are a few lion-themed 🦁 movies 🎬 I love to watch with my adorable cubs-

Important Note:

I will advise all parents to strictly go through the contents of any movie 🎬 before allowing their little cubs to watch it just to be sure that the contents of the movies are suitable ✅️ according to the age group of your little cubs.

Lion Puppets

Could we skip out on making the puppet of my son’s favorite animated lion? 

Obviously not.

My son loves ❤ ️ pretending to be Simba or Mufasa and interacting with his sister using puppets of the same characters. 

Therefore, I discovered this ideal lion-themed activity to help him create adorable yet ferocious lion puppets to play with.

What you need- 

Paper plates, colorful marker pens, scissors ✂️, colorful crayons, paint, embellishments, glitter accessories, glue, and ice cream sticks.

Steps: 

  • I usually draw the outline of a lion 🦁 ( Simba or Mufasa) on a styrofoam paper plate with dotted lines using a marker pen. 
  • I instruct my little cubs to cut out the outline of their favorite lion character ( Simba or Mufasa) along the dotted lines carefully using a pair of scissors✂️ (a highly recommended ideal fine motor activity for my little Simba fans). 
  • We decorate this cut-out of Simba, Mufasa, or any other lion 🦁 using wax crayons, acrylic paint, embellishments, and accessories.
  • I will recommend using colorful kite papers in shades of yellow to make the lion’s mane.
  • To finally reach the target of making an adorable lion puppet, we glued an ice cream stick to the cut-out (in the segment right opposite the segment carrying the lion’s ears). 
  • This ice cream stick will be the puppet’s holder for my little Lion lovers when they interact with each other using it. 
  • We have a lot of fun while interacting by means of using cute 😍 puppets because my kids go from being adorable little cubs with a smile to ferocious ones with funny expressions.

Lion Craft Activities

Painting 🎨 and craft activities are quite popular in the household, and I love to add new methods of painting into the day-to-day craft activities of my little cubs 🦁 so that they are busy all the time. 

Here are a few techniques for making amazing lion paintings that my adorable little cubs love ❤️ to engage in:

Streamer Lion

We love using colorful streamers for decorating the walls during events and often make a stunning ‘Lion 🦁 on the wall’ utilizing these supplies. This is an engaging lion-themed activity for special occasions and birthday 🎂 parties. 

I just draw the outline of a lion on a piece of colorful paper and cover the area lying inside the outline (mostly the lion’s mane) with sticky double-sided tape.

I hang this paper on the wall and ask the little guests to put streamers of their favorite choice on this outline of the lion’s figure. 

These streamers resemble colorful fur on the lion’s mane. The little cubs have a lot of fun doing it, and the end result is a furry and colorful lion on the wall.

Fork Lion

I instruct my adorable little cubs through the method of dipping a fork’s backside in white, golden, brown, or yellow shades of paint 🎨 and pressing its impression on paper in a sequential fashion around a central point to create the lion’s face. 

We add detailings and create the eyes 👀, ears, and other parts using a paintbrush 🖌 or by sticking corresponding embellishments or accessories.

Hand Painting

I ask my little lion cubs to place their palms in a tray carrying brown, golden, white, or yellow shades of paint 🎨 and stamp their impression on a colorful paper in a sequence following a circular technique. 

This entire sequential impression creates the face of a lion with the impression of the fingers serving as the lion’s mane. We love to decorate it utilizing eyes 👀 and whiskers, along with several glitter embellishments. 

This lion-themed activity builds the coordination of hands ✋️ and boosts the child’s ability to 🧠 focus on a particular activity.

Rice, Cereal, Grain, or Pasta Lion

I recall my golden childhood days while playing with rice, cereal, grains, or pasta. Therefore, I have discovered a way to incorporate this ideal activity into a wonderful sensory activity for little lion 🦁 cubs.

I place rice, cereal, grains, or pieces of pasta inside a ziplock bag and put white, brown, golden, or yellow shades of paint inside it (if your little one is a fan of Simba or Mufasa, then you can use shades of paint corresponding to their features too).

I instruct my little cubs to shake the bag for a minute and leave it aside for the paint to dry so that the pieces of pasta, cereal, grains, or rice stick to our desired shades of color. 

I draw the outline of a lion or Simba on a piece of white paper and guide my little cubs to glue these grains of rice, cereal, or pieces of pasta on it using glue (an ideal ✅️ activity that helps to boost the focus of a child).

Bubble Wrap Lion: 

I remember fighting with my siblings for a piece of bubble wrap 🫧 because I absolutely loved popping the bubbles on it. Bubble wraps are the ideal and cutest supplies to utilize for funky craft activities. Therefore, we decided to create a Simba or Mufasa using it. 

I just instruct my little cubs 🦁 to dip a piece of bubble wrap in shades of white, brown, or yellow (use suitable shades for Simba) and press its impression on the outline of a lion to make a bubbly lion 🦁 painting.

Edible Lions

Lion-themed dishes featuring Simba or Mufasa are quite popular with my little cubs, along with cookies 🍪, buns, and ice creams. 

My son loved his birthday cake 🎂 last year because it featured Simba and his friends. I have also tried creating a few lion-themed delicacies for my little Simba fans at home. I have mentioned a few of those dishes below, and I hope 😇 you will enjoy them just as much as I do.

Lion Cupcakes

My daughter loves gorging on cupcakes 🧁, especially the ones with the delicious icing on the top. Therefore, sometimes I put her favorite strawberry cream in a piping bag and often guide her to create the face of a lion on the cupcake. 

Utilizing a piping bag to make a sequential pattern demands a lot of focus. Hence, this lion-themed activity is excellent for helping to enhance the focus 🧠 and concentration of my little cubs. 

I also teach my little ones how to create terrific paws of big cats with the help of cream in a piping bag on a cupcake, a slice of bread, a biscuit/cookie, or a scoop of ice cream.

Vegetable Lion 

I love this lion-themed activity because it is an amazing way of convincing my little cubs (who are fussy eaters) to eat green vegetables and fruits. 

I use thin, horizontally cut slices of vegetables to create the face of a lion by placing them in the form of a circle. 

I cut out two slices of strawberries vertically to utilize them to create the ears. I use two olives perfectly to form the eyes, whereas vertically cut stick-like slices of a carrot 🥕 or cucumber are absolutely apt to create the whiskers. 

Marshmallow Lion

My kids and I take a piece of delicious marshmallow and draw funny images of lions on it using sweet honey or whipping cream. You can do the same with delicious donuts, amazing pies 🥧, or on a birthday 🎂 cake.

Conclusion 

A lot is taught in schools about the sad reality of the declining population of 🦁 lions. I feel incorporating the theme of lions in the daily activities of my kids makes a big impact in teaching them more about the king 👑 of the jungle.

Lions 🦁 are loved all around the world, and these Lion-themed activities bring so much joy 😊 to all the little cubs.

Tell me in the comments below which lion-themed activity your little cubs like the most.

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