Pom-Pom Pets

For school, Ellie and Nina had to make their own pets.Ellie made a puppy a long time ago, but Nina was taking her time deciding what she wanted to do. When I was a kid, I had a pom-pom craft book. For a while, I was obsessed with pom-poms, making all sorts of creations. One of those creations, were pom-pom pets! So when I heard the girls had to make a pet, I figured it was time to teach the girls the art of making pom-poms. When Ellie realized what Nina and I were up to, she decided she needed to make a new pet. A pom-om puppy!

They turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

 So, this is how you make pom-poms. 

You need sturdy cardboard. We found a box and we cut different sizes. One for the body, one for the head, and 4 for the legs.

Once you have the strips, you wind up the yarn around and make it as thick as you want. The more yarn, the fluffier and fuller the pom-pom.

 

Once you have the desired amount of yarn. Slide it off the cardboard (it helps to bend the cardboard in the middle). Hold it really tight. Then with another piece of yarn, you tie it around the middle. Make a tight knot.

Carefully cut the loops on both sides. 

 

 Once both sides are cut, you begin to see the pom-pom taking shape. Fluff it, and give it a nice "haircut."

Remind your kids that it is only a little haircut, or your pom-poms will get to be really small!

Here you can see how big those pom-poms really do get once they are fluffy.

We were having trouble tying the pom-poms.  Ellie does well with tying, but I was having to do Nina's. I came up with a solution. I cut a slit in the middle of the cardboard strips. I had the girls wind up the yarn around the solid part. When they were done, we slid it to the part where there is the slit. Then they were able to tie the yarn in the middle without loosing the loops. It made it a lot easier!

See? I wish I would have thought of that from the beginning!

 

We got all the pom-poms needed for each pet. Ellie was making a dog, and Nina was making a kitty.

 

Then it was time to glue the pieces together. This is the part that needed special mommy involvement. 

 

I put the glue on the legs. I handed each leg to the girls, and they each placed them on the body. 

 

Next we did the faces. At some point we realized we did not have ears for Nina's kitty. We cut triangles out of brown felt.

I glued all the parts in the face because I was afraid the girls would burn their hands with the hot glue. I had them place the eyes exactly where they wanted them, then I glued them on. Same with the nose. For Nina I did the ears and the whiskers too. Ellie was able to do the snout, and the ears.

Finally, we had the body and the faces. Now we were ready to put them together.

 Nina's kitty! We added a little string of yarn to make a scrawny tail.

 

And Ellie's puppy.

 Nina with her kitty.

Ellie with her puppy.

And here is Ellie's original puppy. She made it with no help at all! She cut out cardboard, then she covered it with tissue paper. Then she taped all the parts. I think she did fantastic! I told her this puppy is just as nice as the pom-pom one, so much so, that I wanted to share it with you too!