Can you believe how close it is to halloween? It feels like its only just been and gone! It’s been an unusual year with everything that’s been going on and there has been so many ups and downs. My little guy finally started back at school last week and whilst I know he was glad to see his friends again I did miss him terribly. I’ve loved having him around all the time and the blog has been such a fab bonding experience for us, encouraging us to find fun new crafts and activities. We dont get around to sharing all of them but we do try and post some of our favorites for you guys to try at home. We’ve already started on our Halloween crafts and these cute little dolly peg Halloween bats are our latest! We think they’re pretty cute and my son has had loads of fun running around with them waving them around so that their wings flap up and down!
Heres what we used
Dolly peg
Black paint and paintbrush/sponge
Googly eyes
Black card
Glue
Scissors
How to make our dolly peg Halloween bats.
Take your dolly peg and cover it in black paint before putting it aside to dry.
From your black card cut out two small triangles and once its dry glue one to either side of the dolly peg head (remember you want the slot in the peg to be facing sidewards – not upwards). Then glue two eyes onto the to the top of the head piece as you can see above.
Cut out a large double sided wing shape. Then make a vertical fold just off the center of your wings on each side to give you a middle section about as wide as your peg.
*optional step* if you find that your wings are too big or you want them to sit a little farther forwards like ours, simply cut out a small square from the top of your center section.
Apply some glue to the bottom of your middle section and then push the wings into the dolly peg. Make sure they secure to the bottom side of the dolly peg. We recommend gluing them to the bottom half so that if you want to hang them you can tie string around the top half. Once dry your little bat is finished and ready to play with. If you hold the peg and shake him lightly you can see his wings flap!
How sweet is this little dolly peg dancer craft? We’ve had a huge pack of dolly pegs stashed at the back of the cupboard for ages and today my niece
decided it was time we made something with them. We’d just finished making some yarn tassel doll key rings for her school bag and she suggested that perhaps we could make some peg dolls too because they look like little little stick people. So after a little while of trying to figure out how on earth to fold the cupcake cases into a dress, we finally got there! We just love how cute these turned out!
Heres what we used
Dolly peg
Large cupcake case
Yarn
Pipe cleaner
Glue
Pens
How to make a dolly peg dancer
First start by drawing eyes, a nose and a mouth on the head of your dolly peg. Then, give your dancer some hair by either drawing or sticking some on.
To start making the dress, take a cupcake case and fold it in half. Glue your dolly peg centrally on your cupcake case with the folded end of the case facing the dolls head.
Take a second cupcake case and again fold it in half. Making sure that the two cupcake cases match up, glue your second one both to the front of the peg and the first cake case.
Fold and glue the sides of the case liner backwards to give you your desired dress shape.
Take a pipe cleaner and wrap it around the top of your peg before twisting it so that it sits securely (if your having trouble a dot of glue will help!) Finish of your dolly peg dancer craft by giving her two little dancing shoes and optionally decorating her dress. Isnt she fab?
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How adorable are these little yarn tassel doll charms? They were actually inspired by our yarn ghost charms that we made. I noticed how much the tassels looked like dresses and out sprung the idea for this little craft. My son has really enjoyed making these to gift to his nan and aunties, he found them a bit tricky at the start but soon picked it up. He’s also made one to gift to his cousin to go on her school bag – such a cute idea!
(small objects can be choking hazards, this activity is best suited to older children and children should be supervised at all times)
How to make a tassel doll keyring
First you’ll need to cut out a rectangle from your cardboard, it doesn’t need to be anything fancy – you can see here that were using a battered up piece of cereal box! You’ll need to make sure the height of the rectangle matches the length you want your tassel to be.
Starting at the bottom side, take your yarn and begin wrapping it around your cardboard. Make sure it’s secure but not so tight that it buckles your cardboard. Continue wrapping it around and then once you have reached your desired thickness cut it off at the bottom side where you first started.
Cut off a length of yarn and fold it in half. Then, tie a loop at the centre fold.
Using the two loose ends, tie your loop tightly around the centre of your yarn.
Slip your yarn off of your cardboard. Turn it inside out so that the loop is outside and on top as you can see above.
Place your scissors through the loops and then gently snip them open. I find that the best way to ensure that the ends are snipped evenly is to pull downwards as I snip to ensure I’m snipping the bottom center of each loop.
Now cut two lengths of yarn. Tie one just below the top of your tassel to create the dress shape and the other onto the loop just above your tassel to create arms.
Take your wooden bead and draw your dolls face on to it before threading it onto your loop. Finish off by adding a keying onto the top of your loop. Don’t these yarn tassel doll charms look adorable?
