Pine cones are one of natures very best craft supplies, so why not put them to good use! The kids will have a blast turning each pine cone into a different farm animal, from a Pig, to a Cow, a Rooster, Lamb, and Chick! This nature craft is fun for the kids, but fun for the grown ups too. Pine Cone Farm Animals for the win!
We are slowly working our way through the enormous bag of pine cones my Twinsies and I collected pre-quarantine, and I must say this pine cone craft is by far our fave. We made a “Pine Cone Peeps” , bunny and chick back in Easter time and it was such a hit that we decided to expand the idea into a collection of Pine Cone Barnyard Animals!
Pine Cones are plentiful here in San Diego, but if you are collecting them from the great outdoors like we do, you better know how to clean and prepare them for crafting! Unless of course, you’d like to foster a family of Daddy Long Legs in your kids craft. It’s pretty simple to wash and bake them, but I’d check out the full process I follow every time we bring a new batch into the house.
When it comes to painting the pine cones to make the Farm Animals, or any craft project for that matter, you have a few different options. You can hand paint them of course, which is a bit tedious and time consuming, especially if you’re a perfectionist like me and need to get in every damn knook and cranny! Hand painting is a great option for kids and makes for a more memorable and fun craft experience.
Along the lines of hand painting, and also kid-friendly, would be dip painting them. I totally made that term up but basically you dunk the pine cones in a container of paint and let the excess drip off, and then let them air dry. This method is quick and easy but it requires a LOT of paint. On the plus side, it gets those knooks and crannys!
And last and certainly the easiest, is to spray paint those suckers. It’s quick, it covers every inch, and dries in a hot minute. I wouldn’t suggest giving your kiddos the can of spray paint and sending them on their merry way though.
If you aren’t lucky enough to live in an area that you can collect pine cones by the ton, don’t worry, you can buy perfectly cleaned and prepared ones on Etsy. But I’m going to say it one more time, if you do go the Au Natural route, bake those bugs out first!
This Pine Cone Farm Animal Craft post has the steps to make all five: The Cow, The Chick, The Lamb, The Pig, and The Rooster/Chicken. If this seems overwhelming (or your short on supplies, time or both), just choose your favorite and roll with it!
Supplies Needed to Make Pine Cone Barnyard Farm Animals
I’ve listed the supplies needed by animal just in case you’re not as ambitious as we were to make all 5! That way you will know what you’ll need to make your faves. *At the end of this post, I compiled an all inclusive list for your convenience.
For all 5 Farm Animals
- Pine Cones – (Store bought or cleaned and prepared from nature)
- Googly Eyes
- Black marker
Pig:
- Pink paint – Acrylic or spray paint
- Pink pipe cleaner
- Pink felt– We used 2 different pinks, a lighter for the face, and a darker for the ears and snout
- Pink craft pom poms
Cow:
- White paint– Acrylic or spray paint
- Black paint – Acrylic
- White and black pipe cleaner
- Black, white, and light pink felt
- Black craft pom poms
Rooster/Chicken:
- White paint – Acrylic or spray paint
- Red and Yellow felt
- White craft pom pom
Lamb:
- White paint – Acrylic or spray paint
- Black felt
- Black craft pom poms
Chick:
- Yellow paint – Acrylic or spray paint
- Orange felt
- Yellow craft pom pom
How to Make a Pig Pine Cone Farm Animal
First, paint your pine cone pink and allow it to fully dry. You can hand paint or spray paint, I discussed the pros and cons of each in the beginning of this post.
Make the pig face and ears out of felt
Cut out a large light pink circle for the head and a smaller dark pink oval for the snout.
Draw 2 small black dots on the smaller oval of the snout.
Glue the snout and the googly eyes onto the pink circle. You’ve got your pig face!
Cut out the ears from the dark pink felt.
Make the pig tail with a pipe cleaner
Ideally, you’ll have a pink pipe cleaner unlike we did, so we cheated and painted a white one pink which you can see in the photo. But it works!
Wrap the pipe cleaner around a pen or pencil to give it the spiral shape.
Glue it all together
Glue the pig face to the the smaller, more narrow end of the pine cone. Glue the ears on top, the pink pom poms underneath as feet, and the pipe cleaner tail to the back. Pine Cone Pig complete!
How to Make a Cow Pine Cone Farm Animal
Paint your pine cone all white, and once it’s completely dry paint random spots black.
Make the cow face and ears out of felt
Cut out a white oblong oval type shape that is bigger at the top then the bottom, and 2 small white oval shaped ears.
Cut a light pink oval for the nose, and 2 pink strips for the inner ears.
Draw 2 black dots on the oval snout.
Cut a black “cow spot” for the black spot behind his eye.
Glue the pink snout to the face, and the pink strip to the inner ear. Glue the ears to the top back of the cow face.
Glue the black spot to the face, and glue on the googly eyes.
Make the cow tail from the pipe cleaners
Cut a black pipe cleaner in half, and wrap it around the end of the white pipe cleaner. You could also paint the end black if you prefer.
Glue it all together
Glue the cow face to the top front of the smaller, more narrow end of the pine cone. Glue the tail to the back, and the 4 black pom poms as feet. Pine Cone Cow complete!
How to Make a Rooster Pine Cone Farm Animal
Paint the entire pine cone white.
Make the rooster face out of a pom pom and felt
Cut a small yellow triangle for the beak.
Cut a red strip that looks like hills and valleys (that’s the only way I can explain that one). It doesn’t have to be perfect, you can make it small, big, zig zaggy, or loopy. Then cut another red thin oval as the goblet (is that what that’s called?).
Glue the red loopy felt to the top of the white pom pom, the googly eyes and the yellow beak to the front, and the red goblet under the beak.
Make the wings and feet out of felt
Cut 2 white long oval shaped wings.
Cut 2 yellow pieces for the feet. Make the end zig zagged like chicken feet would look if you can!
Glue it all together
Glue the Pom Pom head to the top, smaller end of the pine cone. Glue the wings to each side, and the feet to the bottom. Pine Cone Rooster complete!
Here they are in progress, lookin’ like a little pine cone farm animal fam bam!
How to Make a Chick Pine Cone Farm Animal
Paint the entire pine cone yellow.
Cut a small orange triangle out for the beak.
Glue the larger yellow pom pom to the top of the pine cone. Next, glue on the googly eyes and beak.
For the feet, draw two small rectangles on the orange felt. Cut the rectangles out, and then cut two teeny slits out of the short end.
Next, draw the wing shape on the orange felt and cut that out as well.
Glue the feet to the bottom of the pine cone and glue an orange wing on each side of the pine cone. Pine Cone Chick complete!
How to Make a Lamb Pine Cone Farm Animal
I used the biggest, fullest pine cone for making the Lamb. This one was definitely the easiest to make as well.
Paint the entire pine cone white.
Cut the face shape out of the black felt. You can freehand this, or draw it out first to make it easier. I drew a “U” first, and then an upside down quarter moon shape on top. I think it turned out alright?!
Then glue the googly eyes to the face.
Lay the pine cone on its side, and glue the face to the top of the pine cone.
Last, glue two black pom poms on the underside of the pine cone as the “feet”. Pine Cone Lamb complete!
Congrats, you’ve made an entire Barnyard Animal collection out of natures best craft supply..Pine Cones!
So which Pine Cone Farm Animal is YOUR favorite?
Until Next Time…
Stay Craft San Diego!
If you love this Farm Animal Pine Cone Kids Craft, PIN it to your best craft board!
July 31, 2020 @ 9:32 pm
These are such cute ideas to make with pine cones. I have so many in my backyard and never know what to do with them!!!
August 1, 2020 @ 10:25 am
Thank you Maira! Omigoodness, we absolutely love crafting with pine cones. You can do so much with them from painting them and making pine cone flowers, making them into animals like these ones, and for Xmas they make great little pine cone christmas trees!