In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb Craft

This easy paper plate craft has a lion’s face on one side and a lamb’s face on the other. Kids can use it to predict the weather for March 1st.

Here’s an adorable Lion and Lamb Craft for kids to make for March 1st.

Remember the old saying “In like a lion, out like a lamb”? Well, we’ve turned that classic idiom into an easy spring craft for kids to make to predict the weather for the month of March.

In like a lion out like a lamb craft for kids - Happy Hooligans

We were sitting at the craft table the other day, with a stack of paper plates in front of us (we love a good paper plate craft), and we were chatting about the weather because it’s been so up and down this winter. I said to the hooligans “It’s not long until Spring. March is almost here! What’s it going to be kids? In like a lion and out like a lamb, or in like a lamb and out like a lion?”

They giggled and looked at me like I was crazy. They’d never heard that expression before!

So I explained to the kids what it meant:

If March comes in fierce like a lion, with snow storms and freezing weather, it’s said that it will go out like a lamb, with gentle breezes and warm sunshine. If March comes in as gentle as a lamb, watch out! We’ll be in for a blast of nasty weather at the end of the month.

Does it really happen that way? Not always, but it’s fun to make predictions, and see if they come true.

The kids had some fun making their predictions, and I suggested that we make a lion and lamb craft to go along with their predictions.

Instead of making separate lion and lamb crafts, I thought it would be fun to put the two together, making a reversible lion and lamb that the kids could flip it from one side to the other, depending on what their prediction was, and what the weather was actually doing.

Using a paper plate seemed the most logical way to do it. You know we love our paper plate crafts!

See all of our paper plate crafts here: Paper Plate Crafts for Every Letter of the Alphabet

I LOVE the way this craft turned out!

It was really easy to make, using supplies and materials that we already had around the house, and there are some fun textures involved for little hands to explore.

What a great craft to illustrate a favourite saying from the good old days.

You may also like our adorable sheep Christmas ornament.

Supplies for Paper Plate Lion and Lamb Craft:

The lion:

paper pate
paint – we used a mix of yellow, orange and gold
yellow yarn
black yarn
googly eyes
brown pom pom

The lamb:

black paint
cotton balls
googly eyes
black construction paper or card stock

You’ll also need:

glue
scissors
hole punch

How to Make Paper Plate Lion:

We painted our plates with a mix of yellow and orange paint. We went a bit heavy on the orange. You don’t need to add as much as you see in the photo here. We ended up adding more yellow, and we even found some gold metallic paint to give it a shimmery look.

When the paint was dry, we made our lion’s mane. We brushed a layer of glue all around the rim of the paper plate, and then with a very long piece of yarn we went around, looping and swirling the yarn and pressing it into the glue. I think it made for a very fine mane, don’t you?

You may also like: 35+ Yarn Crafts for Kids of All Ages

Next, we moved onto the lion’s face. We glued on googly eyes, added a pom-pom nose, and some yarn whiskers.

gluing googly eyes on paper plate lion and lamb

We weren’t sure what to make our lion’s mouth with, and ended up experimenting with a piece of the black yarn.

A frowning mouth seemed most appropriate as we wanted our lion to look fierce.

One of the hooligans suggested angry eyebrows too, which really perfected the look.

Isn’t he terrific?

Leave your lion to dry for a while before flipping him over to make your lamb.

How to Make Paper Plate Lamb:

For our lamb, we painted the centre of the paper plate black, and then the kids pulled and stretched several cotton balls and glued them all around the plate to give our lamb lots of soft, fluffy “wool”.

Making a lamb with paper plate and cotton balls

For the lamb’s face, we added a couple of eyes, and then added a black nose and ears which were cut out of black card stock.

How adorable is this little guy?!

Here’s a side view of our completed craft: lion on one side, lamb on the other.

reversible lion and lamb craft from paper plate

We punched a hole in the top of the plate, and looped a piece of yarn through for hanging.

Now our lion and lamb craft hangs on a doorknob where the kids can reach it and flip it around whenever they change their minds about their weather predictions.

lion and lamb craft hanging from doorknob

I’m curious to see which way it will be facing when March arrives.

Will it come in like a lion or in like a lamb? The mild weather we’re experiencing this weekend has us all predicting “lamb”!

Adorable Lion and Lamb Craft for Kids to Make for the 1st of March