Fun Papercraft Antelope Bookmark

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If your kids tend to read several books at one time, a craft project like this antelope bookmark might come in handy. It’s a common sight in our household to have several books lying around. Science books. A couple of Nancy Drew mystery stories. A history book. One or two of the Narnian Chronicles. And of course, the kids often stop in the middle of a story, and they need a bookmark.

Projects like this cute papercraft antelope bookmark are the perfect craft for home-schooling kids and avid readers. They can also make a fun project to go along with a summer reading challenge. But before the instructions for this fun antelope bookmark craft, here are some interesting facts about antelopes you can read with your kids.

14 Fun Facts about Antelopes

1. There are over 90 species of antelopes.
2. Antelopes can be found in Africa, Europe, and Asia, although most species live in Africa.
3. Antelopes are even-toed mammals in the same family as cows, sheep, and goats.
4. You can find antelopes in a variety of habitats including grasslands, deserts, the savannah, and even mountains.
5. Antelopes are not native to Australasia, Antarctica, or the Americas. Some can be found in North America, but they have been imported.
6. Antelopes are herbivores, which means they eat plants, mainly grass and leaves.
7. As gentle herbivores, antelopes have predators including lions, leopards, hyenas, crocodiles, and pythons. Thankfully, they can run very fast and use their horns for defense.
8. Often, antelopes stay in groups called herds for protection.
9. Antelopes are different from deer. While deer can often live in colder climates, antelopes often live in warmer climates.
10. Another difference between antelopes and deer is that antelope antlers are pointed whereas deer antlers are more branched out. An antelope’s antlers grow throughout their lives, but a deer sheds its antlers every year and grows new ones.
11. An impala, which is a species of antelope, is the second-fastest mammal (the cheetah is the fastest).
12. Antelopes have a keen sense of hearing to detect predators.
13. Sometimes, antelopes will follow zebras to find good spots to graze.
14. Antelopes such as wildebeest migrate in huge groups, sometimes thousands of them.

List of supplies for the antelope bookmark:

1. Colored cardstock paper
2. Pencil
3. Glue
4. Black Sharpie or pen
5. Scissors
6. Antelope template (opens in a new window)

Instructions for the antelope bookmark:

Step 1:

Select different shades of brown cardstock papers. Also, select cream-colored cardstock paper or craft paper.

Trace the head, body, and two legs (strip patterns) from the brown cardstock paper. Trace the small patterns (the nose, hoofs, and horns) on dark-colored cardstock paper.

Trace the inner ear parts on pink craft paper, and finally, trace the circular patterns on cream-colored craft paper.

Use a black pen or Sharpie to draw eyes on the circular patterns. Carefully cut out the traced patterns of your antelope bookmark.

Step 2:

Stick the inner ear parts (cut out from pink craft paper) in the ear parts attached to the head.

Step 3:

Attach the eyes, making sure to keep both eyes symmetrically aligned.

Then glue the horn patterns on the top side of the head; keep the bottom ends of the horns at the back side of the head.

Step 4:

Next, you’ll want to glue the nose near the bottom side of the head and draw a simple smile below the nose. (I used a brown color pencil to sketch a triangular pattern on the forehead of the antelope.)

Step 5:

Now take the hoof strips and glue them on either end of the strips (which are the antelope’s legs). You’ll also glue the dark brown strips along the small rectangular parts sticking out from the base of the body pattern (as seen in the photo below).

Step 6:

Use scissors to trim and align the hoof strips with the pattern attached so there isn’t any extra paper hanging over.

Step 7:

Apply a drop of glue on the underside of the leg strips (on the opposite end from where you have attached the hoofs).  

Step 8:

Attach the legs to the body with glue, about a centimeter below the head.

And now you are done with your cute papercraft antelope bookmark!

Additional Activities:

Here are some fun and educational activities and other crafts that merge nicely with the antelope bookmark:

• Learn about different biomes in the world, such as the grasslands where many species of antelope live.
• Speaking of grassland animals, you might want to check out this post with giraffe themed crafts, activities, and lessons.
• And if you’re focusing on the grasslands of Africa, you might want to do a fun craft of another animal, the African elephant, with this easy elephant craft for kids.
• If you’re looking for ways to incorporate material for older children or teenagers into your homeschool activities, this review of Discover Africa might be helpful for you.
• And a couple other colorful bookmarks you might want to try out are this pretty wire butterfly bookmark, or this DIY ribbon bookmark.

Last but not least, what could complete an antelope bookmark craft like a couple of books about antelopes?

They’re not the most common animal out there, but we managed to find a few:

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