So I’ve always loved those little plastic animals. I mean, they are so small and so colorful and so adorable. I haven’t done too much crafting with them in the past, but all that is about to change. The post today shows how I use the front halves of those little animals to make this long set of hooks for my daughter’s room. It’s a whimsical look that I think fits perfectly in a child’s room or play room. I will post a tutorial in a few days of how I transformed the back halves of those animals into push pins for my bulletin board (or magnets for my fridge). Anyway, today’s tutorial deals with the front halves of the animals. I knew I would spray paint them a single color to keep them uniform and make it look a little more store-bought. I eventually decided on white spray paint, and I think it looks fabulous! The white animals really make the decorative duct tape behind it really stand out!

Let’s get to the tutorial now, shall we?

DIY Plastic Animal Hooks: A Kid’s Room Project

So here are the animals I’m talking about. You can find them at pretty much any dollar store. I found mine at Dollar Tree. I’ve also seen plenty of them at Party City, which has a huge selection of different animals at great prices!

So the first thing I did was use my hand saw to cut each animal in half. I found it easiest to hold an animal firmly with one hand at the edge of the table, and use a back-and-forth sawing motion until I was about 70% through. I then was able to twist the two halves apart. I then sanded a bit just to make the cut ends smooth. Be sure to wear protective gloves and be careful when using any saw or tool with sharp edges!

Next up was the spray paint. I chose white and simply placed my animals on a large piece of cardboard in the open garage and started spraying. I will say it took quite a few coats, probably because the animals have very tiny grooves and are shaped irregularly. I probably had to do 4 coats. As always with spray paint, it is best to do a number of light coats, rather than 1 or 2 thick coats. The thicker coats tend to cause drips- not pretty!

I then knew I wanted to attach the animals to some long board. I found this old piece of white molding in the garage and figured it would work. Now I couldn’t just adhere white animals to a white board… they would disappear! I knew I needed to add some color to the board. I found this perfectly colorful duct tape!

I simply placed a long strip of the tape across the piece of molding folding over the edges.

In order to attach the animals, I simply used some Crazy Glue, and let it dry overnight.

I attached it to the wall, by drilling two holes at the ends of the molding and screwing those in right into the studs. The board isn’t going anywhere, and if the girls pull super hard on the animals, the animal heads MAY pop off, but so far we haven’t had any problems!

Sophia loves hanging her necklaces, bracelets and over-the-shoulder bags… yes, my 4-year old has a TON of accessories! 🙂

Just like mama, I guess!

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