Meow! These playful DIY bookmarks are perfect for the animal-loving bookworms in your life. This is a fun craft for all ages, though younger children will need some help, especially with the cutting. Making their own bookmarks is always motivating to young readers, and who wouldn’t want to dive into a good book when they see this cute kitty peeking out over the pages? They’re also an appealing way to dress up a book gift with a personal touch.
We used bright cardstock to make a rainbow of colorful and vibrant kitties. If you don’t have colored cardstock on hand, though, it would also be really cute to color and decorate your own from plain cardstock. (Upcycle alert: chance to reuse an old notebook cover!) This bookish craft requires only a few materials and, best of all, just a few simple steps before your purr-fect new bookmark is ready. Note that you will need a craft knife to cut out the arms, so it’s a good idea to supervise kids of any age.
Materials:
- Colored cardstock (or paint or color plain cardstock)
- Craft knife
- Scissors
- Piece of cardboard to cut on (or if you have a nice cutting mat, use that!)
- Permanent markers
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Ruler
Cost: There are no out-of-the-ordinary materials required, so this cute craft could cost you nothing! If you don’t have colored cardstock, you can color some plain heavy-weight paper. The weight of the paper makes for a nice sturdy bookmark, so just make sure whatever you use is thicker than regular computer paper. (An old notebook cover can be a good source of cardstock.) If you don’t have a craft knife, you can find options starting at just a few dollars.
Step 1: The first step is to outline and cut out your bookmark. With your ruler, trace a 2” x 6” rectangle on your cardstack and then cut it out. After you have cut it out, erase any leftover pencil marks that you can still see to make your bookmark nice and neat!
Step 2: Using your pencil first, draw the shape of a cat onto your bookmark. Start with the ears, then add its cute little face, and lastly the arms. Pro tip: Make sure you draw the arms long enough that they’ll hold onto your page. I would recommend at least 1.5 inches. After tracing in pencil, go over your lines with a permanent marker and then erase any pencil marks you can still see. If you have a pink marker too, you can add some cute accents like in the picture.
Step 3: Last step! Now take your scissors and cut out your cat’s ears. Next, you will use your craft knife (younger kids will need help here!) to cut around your cat’s arms. Go slowly —you can retrace your lines a few times until you have a clean cut around the arms. Once you have cut all the way through the paper, carefully pop out the arms.
Ta-da! That was simple, right? Your new bookmark is all set to use, unless you want to add some personal flair and dress up your kitty! After doing this craft, you could use this same method to make all sorts of animal bookmarks. I can already see dog, horse, lion, and monkey bookmarks dancing around in my head!
Also, be sure to check out our other bookmark tutorials, because they are each fun and unique in their own way. We have the Paper Punch Bookmark, the Chunky Tassel Bookmark, the Fruit Slice Corner Bookmarks. You can never have too many bookmarks, so let us know which one is your favorite so far.
