National Dress Your Pet Up Day was started in 2009 by pet lifestyle expert & animal behaviorist Colleen Paige. This holiday is perfect for any budding photographer! Who doesn’t like to see their kids all dressed up in matching outfits – even the furry kids? National Dress Your Pet Up Day is a fun holiday you can celebrate by giving a little extra attention to those special members of your family: Your pets! Don’t have pets? – Don’t worry – we have solutions for that too!
The evolution of dressing our pets
It is believed the Ancient Egyptians were the first to place collars on dogs as a decorative item back in 3100 BC. The pet clothing industry has evolved quite a bit since then, making about 40 million dollars annually. Pets even have their own iconic event: the New York Pet Fashion Show. This special event has been highlighting pets as rescue animals, their owners, and pet high fashion since 2003!
Celebrate with or Without Pets
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Those Families with Pets
Pets play an important role in our homes and our lives. Before you begin – make sure you have permission to dress your pet and PLEASE make sure your pet is a willing participant. It is important to treat all animals with care. It’s also not a good idea to reach into the fishbowl.
Pet stores have plenty of clothes, but you can be creative with making a cape, using doll clothes, and even baby clothes if your pet is small enough.
Families without Pets
Having a pet is a big responsibility. Perhaps you have one and helping to take care of it is part of your homeschool routine already. On the other hand, maybe pet ownership isn’t possible because of schedules, allergies, or other reasons – THAT’S OKAY!
If you don’t have a pet use stuffed animals to celebrate Dress Your Pet Up Day. Print a coloring page of your favorite animal and decorate it wearing an outfit for fun.
This coloring book, PETS DRESSED UP, is also a great option.
Lessons for all families on Dress YOUR PET UP DAY
Celebrating DRESS YOUR PET UP DAY is a great opportunity for all families to incorporate some lessons on:
- Caring for God’s Creation – can you save newspapers to donate to a local shelter? Old blankets or towels they can use?
- Can the kids volunteer to read to the animals or spend time with them in other ways? Someone needs to help with all that poop! Be sure to check with your local shelter regarding age limits, etc before mentioning these things to your kids. You don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.
- Dog walking, dog sitting for neighbors who go out of town are great ways to introduce pet responsibility without actual ownership. Be open to a variety of animals.
- Birds, snakes, lizards & fish are pets too. Visit friends who have these pets, and be sure to invite friends over to see yours if you have them. Host a mini class about their habitat, what they eat, their sleep cycles, etc. Kid lead classes are amazingly informative! Use the corresponding “Pet Paper Dolls” page as a companion to your class!
- Writing about dream pets is a great activity too. Living in the city we were never going to own horses, but that didn’t mean my daughter couldn’t dream! We checked out books, watched documentaries, and even planned field trips so she could experience her passion for horses without owning one. Don’t just dismiss that desire for a unicorn!
More Ways to Celebrate Dress YOUR PET UP Day
Happy Hive Homeschooling has a set of Pet Paper Dolls for all animal lovers to use.
Inside this fun resource, you’ll get 10 different pets to dress.
This adorable collection of pet dressing fun contains 10 different pets for you to dress in a variety of outfits. The best part is learners get to design and color the fashion items themselves. The set contains a DOG, CAT, TURTLE, HAMSTER, FISH, BUNNY, SNAKE, GUINEA PIG, MOUSE, and BIRD. The Dog and Cat are also included as full-color versions!
By using a repositionable adhesive (available at your local craft store or online) the “pets” can be dressed over and over. Then when learners decide they like their look, use some glue, add a craft stick and your family can put on a pet fashion show like no other!
There are also a variety of animal coloring pages and creative writing activities to keep the imagination flowing.
How to Use PET PAPER DOLLS:
Color the dolls and their outfits FIRST. Then carefully cut them out. Use a repositionable adhesive to “dress” your paper doll. (That’s what it’s called, repositionable adhesive. You can find it in the scrapbooking supplies.)
If you want to make the Paper Dolls into Puppets, then you can use liquid glue, or a glue stick and make their outfit permanent. Attach the Doll to a craft stick or an empty paper tube.
Here are some other activities you can do with the Pet Paper Dolls:
Dress and re- dress
Trace the clothing patterns onto scrapbook paper for your own unique designs.
Use craft sticks and put on a puppet show – you can host a pet Fashion Show, design awards for different categories
Turn the pet Paper Dolls into greeting cards and send them to friends and family who have those pets (or just for fun)
Make a diorama scene with several pets
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Content on Happy Hive Homeschooling is shared for educational and inspirational purposes. There’s no wrong way to homeschool. Please use your own judgment and provide appropriate supervision when adapting ideas for your family or classroom.