• Jungle animals and jungle themes are popular with children.monkey on monkey bars image by Photoeyes from Fotolia.com
  
  The jungle is a place that evokes the imagination of children. One only needs to take a walk through the children's section of a bookstore to see the popularity of jungle themes and animals. Most kids thoroughly enjoy craft projects as a way to express their creativity and have fun. There are many ideas for jungle crafts children are sure to enjoy.
  
  

Paper Plate Animals

• Have the children make a variety of animals out of paper plates. Soon you will have a colorful jungle full of animals. Create a snake by cutting the plate into a spiral. Stop when you are about four inches from the center. Decorate in various colors. Jungle birds are also easy to create with a paper plate. Start by cutting feathers out of several colors of construction paper. Paint the plate in a bright color. Once the paint dries, fold the plate in half and add the feathers, beak and eyes. Using tissue paper or streamers, add a tail. Other paper-plate animal ideas include elephants, monkeys and tropical fish.
  
  

Jungle Collage Mural

• If you have a large group of children, making a jungle collage mural can be a fun activity that teaches teamwork. Obtain tall, large roll of white paper. Find a suitable location where you can unroll about 10 to 20 feet of paper. You may wish to place a few extra strips of paper down to protect the floor from paint. Choose some children to paint the jungle background while others work on making animals, plants and any other jungle items out of paper plates, cardboard, construction paper or any other materials. Have lots of paint, yarn, glitter and tissue paper on hand for the children to use in their decorations. Once the background and items are complete, glue the items in place on the long strip of paper. You now have a 3-D jungle collage to hang on the wall.
  
  

Jungle Puppets and Theater

• For very young children, making a jungle animal paper bag or sock puppet can be a colorful, hands-on project. They'll likely have a ball making the animal and playing with their creation. Animal ideas include a colorful jungle frog, a monkey and a tiger. Using either a paper bag or a sock, have the young ones paint them in an appropriate color. Depending on the age of kids, you may wish to cut the eyes, legs and arms out of construction paper for them. Glue on the body parts once the paint dries. For an added element to this project, make a puppet theater from a large box and decorate the background in a jungle theme. The children can perform their own made-up puppet show.