Kids Crafts: Making a Cheap Homemade Placemat for a Pet

Kids interested in crafts and pets can make a homemade placemat for their pet cat or pet dog.

Your pet may not be the neatest eater in the house. The furry family member may drool and spew while gobbling and chomping. Why not make and decorate a personalized placemat for the pet dog or pet cat in the family?

This kids craft is also a great idea for families with multiples pets, who may have different diets. The pets may not know which placemat and food bowl is theirs but everyone else in the family will.

Kids Crafts: Materials Needed to Make a Cheap Homemade Placemat for a Pet

The placemat itself can be made from a large 11x17 inch piece of material. The material used in this kids craft may depend on what is available in your house, what you can recycle, or what is cheap. Here are some ideas for finding cheap material for the placemat:

a piece of cloth, from an old sheet, pillowcase, or leftover sewing project
a piece of poster board
a sheet of watercolor or acrylic paper
a piece of primed or unprimed canvas
the front or back side of a large cereal box

The next important material for this kids craft for pets is two sheets of contact paper that measures 11X17, or are big enough to cover the "placemat."

Options for decorating materials:

markers
crayons
chalk
poster paint, paint brush

Kids Crafts: Preparing to Make a Homemade Placemat for a Pet

These are the preparations that parents, caregivers or teachers may want to do.

An adult should use some scissors to cut the contact paper so it fits the placemat.
Optional: Use scrapbooking scissors with different edges to add a nice touch to the pet placemat.

Time to Make a Homemade Placemat for a Pet: Kids Only!

Decorate the placemat for the pet, with different colors, shapes, and words. Add the pet's name, or maybe list his or her favorite foods. If the placemat material you are using is blank on both sides, like a piece of poster board, be sure to decorate both sides.

When you are done, ask your parents, a caregiver or a teacher to help with the contact paper.

Lay the contact paper down, sticky side up. Then line up the placemat and press it down.