Five easy, kid-friendly crafts for cat lovers big and small

Kids, cats, and crafts—what a great combination! Here, the editors of American Girl magazine share five fun, cat-themed crafts you can do with your kids.

Stuck with one mismatched sock? Turn it into a lil’ round cat buddy! Fill the foot of an old sock with uncooked rice. Wrap a rubber band tightly around the middle of the sock to prevent the rice from spilling. Trim the leftover material. Set your buddy down so the rubber band is hidden. Cut shapes for the eyes, nose, whiskers, and ears from felt to make a face. Use craft glue to attach the shapes to your buddy.

Here’s a fun place to keep small items like earrings, paper clips, or spare change. First, cover your work surface. Then use craft glue to attach a plastic cat figurine to the center of a cardboard lid. Let dry. Use nontoxic acrylic paint to cover the animal and the lid. You may need 2-3 coats. Let dry completely.

Make an adorable kitten with a few fast folds. With this easy craft, you can make one kitty or a whole litter to share with friends! Begin with a square piece of paper, and rotate the paper so it looks like a diamond. Make a triangle by folding the bottom point up to meet the top point (1). Fold each corner up so the points extend just beyond the middle of each top edge (2). Catch both layers of paper and fold the top point down toward the bottom edge (3). Flip your shape over and draw a cute kitty face. Meow!

Ever wonder where all your cat’s toys have gotten off to? Make your fuzzy feline friend a toy box! Cover a medium-sized cardboard box and lid with wrapping paper. Wrap the lid separately. Attach the paper with double-sided tape. Add cat-themed stickers, like fish or paw prints, and tie a bow to attach to the top. Perfect for storing catnip-filled mice and all those little squeaky toys.

With a little frosting and some candy, turn plain cupcakes into cat-tastic treats (just don’t share with your actual cat)! To make this marmalade cat, frost a cupcake with orange frosting. Place orange gumdrops between two pieces of wax paper and flatten them with a rolling pin (a little extra sugar sprinkled on the gumdrops will help keep them from sticking to the paper). Cut out ears and, if you’d like, stripes from the flattened orange candy. Press these decorations into the frosted cupcake. Repeat the flattening and cutting process with green gumdrops to make the eyes. Trimmed pieces of rope licorice makes great whiskers. A piece of pink candy melt, a red or pink gumdrop, or other small candy works well for a nose, and you can make a tongue from taffy, a piece of fruit leather, or a flattened pink gumdrop. So sweet!