In case you missed my guest post last month over at The Southern Institute, I'm sharing it with you again.
While shopping at one of our favorite local stores (Persnickety's Awesomeness Emporium) my kids always gravitate to these adorable little plushies by Good One, Den.
My youngest son Owen picked up the cute little monster plushie on the left.
We got home, and not even an hour later, he wanted to start recreating his own plushie friend because as we all know, even friendly monsters don't like to be lonely!
We opened up my scrap bin and started pulling scraps of fabric out, replicating many of the same features of our Good One, Den's plushie monster. However, we did make a few changes. We added a pocket on the front to hold our newly minted seven year olds birthday money, and it seems like no monster is complete without a mustache and spiky hair.
It didn't take long for my daughter to want to get in on the action as well, and like all stuffed animals, these plushies were no different...they started multiplying!
Today, I'm going to show you how to make your very own plushie with your kids.
1.First, you need to have your kids draw out an idea of what they want to make. Kids can be very particular so you want to make sure they draw out the most important parts of their plush animal. For our second round of animals we made small chicks.
2. Let your kids riffle through your scrap fabric bin and pick out several different types of fabric. You will also need scissors, and buttons for eyes.
3. Once you have an idea of the shape of your plushie, break down the components into several pattern pieces (for instance, for the chicks we needed: circles for eyes, small wings, round shape for belly, and basic large shape for the animal) and have the kids cut out their pattern pieces, and then the pattern shapes from the fabric. Remember to double up on the shapes if necessary (ie two circles for the eyes).
Take the front piece of the plushie and sew down all of his (or her) various parts. Embellish your little guy as much as you want to!
I took this opportunity to teach an important life lesson: how to sew on a button.
I think every kid needs to know how to do this!
Next, I helped by sewing the front and back together (right sides facing each other) and had my little helper turn the plushie inside out and then stuff it to the desired fluffiness.
Once I stitched up the opening for the fluff, the kids immediately took their plushies and started playing!
You can't have just one!
My kids created monsters, owls and chicks.
What will your kids create?
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