National Dog Day- DIY Slinky Dog

In the United States, National Dog Day is a day to celebrate all of our furry friends! Dogs are a man’s best friend for a reason, so why not celebrate them?

Luckily, there are lots of ways to celebrate National Dog Day. You could do something huge like adopt a dog from your local shelter or rescue, but also something fun and simple like make a craft in their honor!

With that said, here is a fun suggestion for making a dog craft to honor the pup in your life. For this craft, we combined our general love for pups with one of our favorite movies. The character Slinky Dog (better known as Slinky) is a toy dachshund who speaks with a Southern accent, and was the inspiration for this craft.

Using some simple materials from our Arts and Crafts Supply Library and the directions below, you and your kids can create their very own “slinky dog”.

Materials Needed:

From Kid Made Modern Arts and Crafts Supply Library:

• Felt (we used white, brown, black)
• Giant fuzzy pipe cleaner
• Pom poms
• Googly eyes
• Pipe cleaners
• Glue
• Scissors

Additional Materials:

• Pencil
• Piece of brown paper (we used a recycled grocery store bag)

Instructions: 

Step 1

Gather your materials. Create the face of your Slinky Dog using white felt, cut into a door shape (see photo for reference). Place a pom pom at the end for a nose.

Step 2

Draw the face onto a piece of brown paper (we used a recycled grocery bag) and cut it out. Next, glue the white felt nose onto the brown paper.

Step 3

Glue googly eyes on your face. We used a piece of brown felt underneath to add some dimension. Use your imagination and have fun with it!

Step 4

Add your ears. We freehand drew an ear shape onto felt and cut it out (you can also do a simple Google search to obtain the shape). Create the second ear by tracing the ear shape onto a new piece of felt and cut it out. Then, glue your ears on to the back of the dog’s face.

Step 5

Reinforce the ears by gluing them on from the front, as well.

Step 6

Create your body using strips of felt. We rotated between black and brown. Glue the ends together to form a ring. Then, connect the rings using glue.

Step 7

Secure the body to the head using glue. You can use a glue gun for this part for a faster hold.

Step 8

Use your fuzzy pipe cleaner to make a tail! Bend it whichever way you’d like. Then, glue on some embellishments. We used pom poms and smaller pipe cleaners to give the tail some character.

Step 9

When the tail is complete, secure it to the end of the body. You can use a hot glue gun for this part, as well.

This slinky dog craft is really so much fun and the perfect way to celebrate National Dog Day this summer. So, gather up some of the simple supplies needed and take some time out of your busy day to make this craft with your family and remember how special the dog in your life is.

About the Author:

Jaclyn Ryan is a mom of four and former teacher. She lives in Connecticut with her family and prefers to engage her children in activities that foster creativity and connection -- and that are also fun!