Free-standing Paper Elephants

I can’t get over how cute these elephants turned out… but first, a disclaimer:
I stole the original cartoon elephant shape form the internet, and made my own adjustments
and alterations to turn it into a craft. If this is your elephant… my apologies.

And now the fun stuff!

This is a super easy craft, but I think it’s absolutely adorable.

Here is the printable Elephant Design

Step 1. Print copies of the elephant design on cardstock. The image is two elephants
connected at the top - one page makes one elephant

Step 2. Color and fold. Color both elephant shapes with whatever color you would like.
I just made mine gray… but colorful elephants can be just as fun… and they can have tons of
personality! I chose to leave his tusks and toes white, but those can be colored in too.
The paper then folds in half along the top of the elephant (which should be right around the middle
of the page).

Step 3. Cut out your elephant! Be careful to leave the folded part attached, so you don’t end
up with two separate elephants. It should stay connected at the head and the back, but the white
space in the middle can be cut while it is still folded.

You should also color and cut out the earpiece (which looks like a butt).

Step 4. Glue the elephant sides together. You can use a regular glue stick or plain school glue
for this.It should be glued along the body, tail, and trunk… but NOT the legs. The legs will stay
separate so that there are four of them, and he can stand up.

Step 5. Attach the ears. There is a small black line on the elephant’s head. Once both sides are
glued together, you can carefully cut the line. This will create a slit for the earpiece to slide into.
When the legs are separated (which you can do by gently folding them out… not enough to make
a crease, but enough for a slight curl), the ears help balance the elephant to stand on its own!

Step 6. Decorate it! The elephants can be decorated any way you like. I used a rectangle and
a half-circle of cardstock, decorated them, and folded them in half. These pieces were adhered
with a regular glue stick. That’s it!

Enjoy the elephants!