Stuffed Animal Taxidermy

Oct 15, 2021

$1-50

Byline

Alexis Adrianse, Programming Librarian, Dorr (Mich.) Township Library

Stuffed Animal Taxidermy is a fun program for kids and teens. Using old, thrifted stuffed animals, kids can give their faux furry friends a new "life" by turning them into a DIY home decoration.

Thanks to community donations and Amazon purchases, our youth had a blast at this in-person program.

Advanced Planning

We first found the idea through a Discord group that my coworker is a part of. The original post in the group had old stuffed animals that they were trying to repurpose and came up with the idea to share.

We then asked for community donations of stuffed animals and bought the wooden mounting boards from Amazon. We made our own taxidermied stuffed animal ahead of time to have a sample to show the kids and to work out any kinks that arose.

Marketing

We market our programs through our newsletters and social media pages. We have Facebook events that go out all at once and then small reminders up to the event.

Budgeting

We got our stuffed animals from community donations and supplemented those with thrift store purchases. We spent $10 on the stuffed animals and ended up with 30 of them.

We then bought the boards from Amazon; a 12-pack cost us $16.99 We already had hot glue guns, glue sticks and paint stocked.

Day-of-event Activity

On the day of the event, we set up our tables and covered them. We put a cup of each paint color, brushes, and two ready-to-go hot glue guns on each table.

The stuffed animals and boards were arranged at an empty table for the kids to choose from when they got there.

Program Execution

We had a full class of 12 with a waitlist. Once everyone arrived, the kids chose their stuffed animals and board. They began by painting their board. While the board was drying, they carefully cut the head off of their animal and either glued or sewed the bottom shut. Gluing or sewing depends on the comfort level of each child.

When everything was dry, they hot glued the animal head onto the board and added any stickers or embellishments they wanted.

Advice

The kids can get a little overexcited when cutting off the heads so make sure to keep an eye on them. Offer assistance with the scissors if it looks like they are struggling.