Pom Pom Pets

You can use your imagination or a child's coloring book for ideas.

Materials Needed:

• Pom-poms
• Moveable Eyes or black felt for younger children who put toys in their mouths
• Pink felt, (for tongues, noses, and inside ears, etc.) Black felt (for eyes and mouths, etc.) White, Brown, Tan, etc. (for ears.) Orange (for beaks and duck feet.) Other colors of felt can also be used to make clothing for your pets if you are feeling really creative.
• Pipe cleaners or chenille stems (optional)
• Yarn for the pom-poms in appropriate colors for your pets. (Other colors if you want to knit or crochet clothing.)
• Whiskers for cats
• Craft glue

Instructions:

You can buy plastic or metal pom-pom makers but for more versatility in sizes, I like to make my own pom-poms using cardboard squares. For the tiny pets, I use 1 inch squares for the heads and 2" squares for the bodies, ½ inch for the legs and arms, muzzles, tails, and ears. You can make larger squares for larger pets. Pom-poms can be trimmed for shorter more defined 'fur' shapes or left untrimmed for longer 'fur'.

1. Using thick cardboard, cut squares in appropriate sizes. Cut a grove on the top and the bottom of the squares and cut a 4-6 inch pice of yarn. Place and center this yarn across the top of the cardboard. You will use this to gather up the wad of wound yarn.
2. Wind the square with yarn. The thicker you wind the yarn the thicker the pompom will be.
3. Cover the square with yarn. Place the scissors in the bottom grove of the cardboard and cut open the yarn on the bottom edge.
4. Tightly tie and knot the upper length of yarn to gather the yarn together.
5. Remove the pom-pom from the cardboard square.

Now you can trim it for a denser smaller ball or leave it untrimmed for a larger fluffier ball. You can sew or glue the pom-poms together, whichever you prefer.

I like to knit little scarves for my animals for a finishing touch. I even knit a yellow sweater for a raccoon I made once. Brown felt worked nicely for the raccoon's 'mask'.

Have fun and enjoy your new pets.