40+ Squirrel Activities for Your Little Ones Discover Whiskers & Wonders

Squirrels, the furry friends with bushy tails scurrying around the trees in the garden, are creatures that my kids are fascinated by and generally love looking at them. 🐿️

In this blog post, I have described some of the activities that my son and I enjoyed doing with squirrels as a central figure.

Squirrel Activities for Your Kids 

This list of fun and engaging squirrel-themed activities is perfect for kids to expand their learning and create art that lets them foster their creativity.

I hope you employ these activities to keep your kids engaged and have a lot of fun.

Squirrel Observation

The best way to introduce your little ones, who are just beginning to notice these rodents, is by letting them observe the squirrels in the garden or the park – how they move, climb trees, and eat nuts and fruits. 

My daughter and I love spending time in the garden observing squirrels and their day-to-day behaviors. 👀

Squirrel Egg Carton Miniature

A fun craft with egg cartons that you can repurpose into miniature squirrels that your kids will love. 🥚

Cut individual cups of an old egg carton. Kids can use acrylic paint to paint the cups brown. Glue a paper cut-out for the tail and add the features of the squirrel with a marker.

Squirrel Corner Bookmark

The perfect squirrel-themed bookmark for kids who love reading. 🔖

Follow a tutorial to make a corner bookmark using a brown sheet of paper.

Draw and cut out the tail from paper and glue it to the back of the bookmark. Add the features of the squirrel with a marker to make an adorable bookmark.

Squirrel Handprint Art 

Time to get your kids’ hands messy with this fun art activity. 🎨

Draw an outline of a squirrel on a sheet of paper. Kids can color the squirrel leaving the tail untouched. Paint your kids’ hands with brown paint, and stamp their handprints onto the sheet of paper to fill the space of the squirrel’s tail. 

Squirrel Sponge Art

Print and cut a squirrel outline and tape it to a sheet of paper with washi tape. Kids can dip the sponge in paint and dab it all over the paper going around the outline of the squirrel. Remove the template to show a blank squirrel outline amid the colors. 🧽

Pro Tip:

You can also cut inside the outline of a squirrel leaving only the traced line, and let kids dab the sponge onto another sheet of paper using the squirrel-shaped hole as a stencil.

Squirrel Letter Recognition 

Print and glue the face of a squirrel onto a bowl. Print templates for acorns, and write down the letters of the alphabet in uppercase and lowercase on acorns and laminate them.

Kids can feed the squirrel by placing the letters you call out into the bowl. 🔡

This activity helps your kids improve their letter-recognition abilities. 

Squirrel Counting Game 

Print outlines of squirrels on thick paper and laminate them. Label them from 1-10. Attach the squirrels to small bowls with a clothespin.

Kids can feed the squirrel by placing the number of seeds or nuts into the bowl corresponding to the number written on the squirrel. 🔢

This activity helps kids learn numbers and counting with one-to-one correspondence.

Squirrel Shape Matching

Cut out squirrels and acorns from pieces of paper in different shapes – square, oval, rectangle, triangle. Get your kids to match the squirrels and acorns that look similar in shape. ⭕️

Pro Tip:

If your kids are beginning to learn shapes, you can make pairs of squirrels in the same shape to make it easier for kids to match them and then move to the acorns. 

Squirrel Coloring Sheets

My kids enjoy doing coloring sheets. 🖍️

Print coloring sheets with squirrel outlines. Kids can color these squirrel-themed coloring sheets that will keep them engaged while improving their hand strength and concentration.

Squirrel Crown

Cut a rectangle from thick brown paper and attach it to make a band that fits their heads. Cut the outline of the face from brown paper, glue it to the front, and add details with a marker. Your kids will love wearing these squirrel-like crowns. 👑

Squirrel and Acorn Search

Play a fun search game that kids will love and will get them moving around on their toes.

Print squirrels and acorns on pieces of paper, cut and laminate them. Hide them in places around the house. Kids can go on a hunt to find all the squirrels and acorns that are hidden and collect them. 🔎

Pro Tip:

You can play this game with a hot or cold concept where you let them know if they are closer or farther from a squirrel or acorn.

Squirrel Prepositions Activity

My son enjoyed doing this activity which helps kids understand prepositions and develop an ability to follow directions in a fun way. 📚

Print out squirrels on paper squares and write down the prepositions on each squirrel. You can instruct kids to place the squirrel on surfaces and objects based on the preposition in the card.

Squirrel and Acorn Line Matching

My son loves this simple activity to practice different line movements, the perfect exercise for pre-writing. 

On a sheet of paper, draw squirrels on one end and acorns on the other end. Match the squirrels to their acorns with straight, zigzag, way, curved lines, and so on with a pencil. 〰️

Get your kids to match the squirrels to the acorns by going over the pencil lines you made with a crayon or colored pencil for kids to practice line movements.

Pro Tip:

Once the kids adapt to drawing the different lines, they can link the squirrels to their acorns without any pencil guide.

Squirrel Maze Puzzle 

My son loves solving maze puzzles to connect two objects.

Print a squirrel maze puzzle where kids help the squirrel find his food – the acorn. Kids connect the squirrel on one end to its acorn on the other end of the maze by tracing the correct path through twists and turns. 🧩

These puzzles keep kids occupied and focused on making it to the end of the maze. 

Squirrel Paper Plate Craft

A simple craft activity with paper plates that my son loved making.

Fold in half a medium-sized paper plate for the body. Fold a small-sized paper plate in half and make a slant fold at the corner end to make the head.

Kids can paint the paper plates with brown paint, glue them together with the tail, hands, and feet cut from brown paper, and add googly eyes to complete your squirrel. ✂️

Squirrel Fork Painting

This is an easy art activity with a simple tool – the fork.

Draw an outline of a squirrel, which kids can color with brown crayons or colored pencils, leaving the tail empty.

The back of a plastic fork becomes the paintbrush, which kids can dip in brown paint and cast impressions on the paper to create the fur on the squirrel’s tail. 🖼️

Squirrel Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are great for kids to experience and stimulate their senses while being a calming activity. 

Make a squirrel-themed sensory bin with acorns, seeds, nuts, leaves, and 

miniature toy squirrels for your kids to play with and explore. 📥

Squirrel Storybooks 

My son enjoys reading books about squirrels.

Kids can read stories about the squirrels they love and their antics from storybooks. You can pick storybooks with squirrel illustrations and pictures to get your kids interested in the books. 📖

While your kids sift through the books, they will slowly develop a love for books and learn some life lessons too.

Squirrel Drawing

Kids can learn to draw squirrels as an art activity to keep them engaged and entertained while also visualizing these furry friends on paper.

Choose a tutorial blog post or video that teaches kids how to draw squirrels step-by-step and in an easy way that can be recreated by kids. ✏️

Pro Tip:

Once kids learn to draw the squirrels, they can paint and decorate them. Turn these drawings into bookmarks, greeting cards, or wall art for your home.

Squirrel Paper Craft

A craft using paper to make a squirrel that you can put up in your kids’ room. 📄

Paint a rectangle of construction paper with brown paint and stamp it onto brown paper to create a tree trunk. Cut the trunk’s outline and make a hole in the middle for the peephole.

Kids can make the head of the squirrel and its features with paper shapes. Glue the trunk and the squirrel peeking out the hole onto a white paper. 

Squirrel Tissue Paper Craft

My son enjoyed making squirrels with tissue paper. 🧻

Print a template of a squirrel outline. Kids can use two colors of tissue paper to fill the space within the squirrel outline.

Tear the tissue of one color into small pieces and glue them on the body portion of the squirrel. Scrunch up tissues of the other color and glue them on the squirrel’s tail.

Pro Tip:

You can replace the tissue paper with corrugated, craft, crepe, or parchment paper cut into small pieces or scrunched up to make the same craft. 

Squirrel Lacing Card

Lacing cards are an activity my son loves and helps improve hand-eye coordination and the pincer grip of kids. 

Print a template or draw an outline of a squirrel on thick paper. Kids can color the squirrel with crayons or colored pencils.

Punch holes along the edges of the outlined squirrel and get your kids to lace a ribbon or thread through the holes. 🧵

Squirrel Feeder

Feed the furry friends that visit your garden with a feeder full of nuts and seeds. Kids will enjoy the process of making this and watching the squirrels eat.

Clean an empty milk carton and cut a hole on either side. String a wire through the milk carton’s top portion to hang it on the trees. Add seeds, nuts, and corn to the bottom of the milk carton to make a feeder for squirrels. 🥜

Squirrel Assembling Craft

An engaging cut-and-paste activity for kids to build a squirrel while improving their ability to cut and stick things and motor skills.

Print a color version of the template on thick craft paper with the different parts of the squirrel. Cut the pieces from the template and get your kids to glue them together to build a squirrel. You can instruct them on the order of the parts to make it easier for them to assemble the squirrel.

Pro Tip:

If your kids are at the stage where they can use a pair of scissors, they can have a go at cutting the parts. You can also print a black-and-white template for them to color and assemble.

Squirrel Playdough Miniature

Playdough activities are my son’s favorite. It provides a hands-on sensory experience, helps foster imagination, and aids kinaesthetic learning. 🪆

Kids can model and mold the playdough into shapes that form the head, body, arms, and legs. Add googly eyes for the eyes and an acorn or a pine cone for the squirrel’s tail.

Squirrel Nursery Rhymes

Sing along to nursery rhymes about squirrels with your kids. This is a guaranteed way to keep kids engaged while they also have a good time. 🎵

Singing nursery rhymes can help kids develop their speech and language acquisition abilities.

Squirrel Puppet

Stage a puppet show at home for your kid with squirrel puppets.

Trace an outline of a squirrel on a cardboard piece. Kids can paint the cardboard squirrel with brown paint. Glue on googly eyes and add other details with a marker.

Cut along the edge of the painted squirrel and glue it to a popsicle stick to make a puppet. 🎭

Squirrel Paper Cup

Turn a plain paper cup into a squirrel with an easy craft – a craft my son enjoyed making. 

Kids can paint a white paper cup with brown acrylic paint. Cut out the details of the face, legs, and tail from thick brown craft paper. Glue them onto the paper cup to make a squirrel. 🍶

Squirrel Mask

Kids will love these squirrel-themes masks.

Print a squirrel mask template on thick craft paper. Kids can color and decorate the masks. Cut two peepholes for the kids to peek through and glue a straw or popsicle stick for kids to hold. 🎭

Squirrel Pin the Tail Game

A version of the classic pin-the-tail on the donkey game that kids everywhere love playing, including my kids, but with a squirrel. 

Print out templates of the squirrel and its tail. Cut the squirrel’s body and its tail separately. Stick the body portion on a wall or corkboard at eye level. Blindfold your kids and let them try to attach the tail to the squirrel’s body as closely as possible. 📌

Pro Tip:

You can give them hints as to which direction they can move the tail to fit it perfectly to the body.

Squirrel Pretend Play

My kids enjoy pretending to be squirrels. Play some music and place hula hoops on the floor. Kids can pretend to be squirrels searching for nuts, acorns, and seeds that they take back home to the hula hoops.

Pretend play lets kids use their imagination and creativity and promotes emotional development. ▶️

Squirrel Facts Session

Teach your kids about squirrels by listing some facts about them. Kids will be fascinated by the interesting information they find about the furry friends they see scurrying along the trees in their garden. 📰

Squirrel Videos

Watch squirrel-related videos and documentaries for kids to learn more about squirrels and their lives, food habits, behaviors, sounds, and the different types of squirrels.

These videos and documentaries help kids learn more about squirrels and also become a source of entertainment to watch. 📹

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading about these squirrel activities I did with my son that were a great source of learning and fun for him.

Please comment below if you liked any of these activities and which ones you would try at home with your kids. ❤️