Craft Foam Critters – Fish, Kitten, Puppy

Last updated on March 20th, 2024 at 12:42 pm

Editor’s Note: The following free instructions to make craft foam heart critters have been on AllFreeCrafts for over a decade. The photos are small but they give a great idea of how these homemade critters look like after assembly.

Yours will be different and uniquely cute as you add your own facial features and colors.

Keep that in mind when you find the fun update at the end of this post.

I was envisioning different versions of a craft foam fish, a bunny and a puppy dog and I wanted to see what they might look like. So I asked for some help – from AI!

Check the fish and bunny preview on the right:

This was a new experience for me but the creations are adorable. I hope you find them inspiring for your own craft foam projects!

~ Jane Lake, Owner and Editor of AllFreeCrafts

Craft Foam Heart Critters:
Kitten, Puppy or Fish

by Twila Lenoir

These heart shaped critters have lots of uses. They’re a natural for Valentine’s Day, but also make great zipper pulls, fridge magnets or decorations for picture frames or mirrors.

Because they are made from thin foam heart shapes, each critter may be added to a greeting card for someone special.

To Make Three Heart-Shaped Foam Animals

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Puppy, Kitten or Fish Instructions:

1. Print and cut out the heart shaped pattern, shown above, which includes three hearts of different sizes, labelled A, B and C. Trace around the patterns and cut out craft foam hearts as follows for each animal.

2. Puppy: Cut two “A” hearts and one “B” heart. Place the “B” heart upside down and glue the two “A” hearts in place on the back, placing them as shown in the photo. These are the puppy’s ears.

Turn the puppy over and glue on the goggle eyes.

With a black marker, draw on a nose, with a line going down to the ident of the heart. Add small dots on either side for the whiskers. Glue on a few strands of yarn or thread as longer whiskers.

3. Kitten: You will need one “B” heart and two “C” hearts for the kitten. Follow the same directions as for the dog, using the “C” hearts for the kittens ears and looking at the photo for placement.

Add a small triangle of pink fun foam, felt or paper to each of the ears.

4. Fish: Use one “B” heart and one “C” heart for the fish. Glue the “C” heart on top of the “B” heart as the tail.

Add a plastic eye and, if you like, draw wiggly lines on the tail or scales on the fish body with a magic marker.

For All Craft Foam Critters:

If using your creation as a zipper pull, punch a hole in one ear or on the tail of the fish. Add a small wire key ring which you can also attach to the end of a zipper.

If you like this craft, you may also like to see how to make a Fun Foam Ladybug

More Heart-Shaped Critters – Bunny, Frog, and Cat

Check out our newest creation, the Heart-Shaped Foam Bunny for Easter, shown here with one of the kitten critters.

Consider making these heart-shaped critters from felt or construction paper.

Or try wooden heart shapes, such as our frog and kitten heart stakes. This cute pair, with a free printable pattern, can also be made from craft foam.

See if you can create other creatures from heart shapes – perhaps a bird, using hearts as the face and body with the smaller hearts as wings, or why not cut a heart in half to make two fun foam mice?

Fish, Kitten and Puppy Update:

Use the images here, which I had fun creating with AI, as inspiration for more craft foam characters. For an average crafter, these creations are easily reproduced with a little imagination, some craft foam, scissors and glue.

Please also see all our original craft foam crafts. Happy Crafting!