Wednesday, May 15, 2013

DIY Woolly Monsters for Imaginative Play

Just have a look at these cute woolly monsters! 
I think they are just so adorable and a great little creature that would be fun for children to use during creative or imaginative play.  School aged children would be able to make many of these in one sitting, possibly a whole family of woolly monsters!  


Imaginative play is so important for a child's development. As a primary school teacher I would always be able to identify those children who were exposed and encouraged to play creatively and use their imaginations in ways that allowed them to go further than what was simply presented to them. 


Here is a great article if you wish to learn more about a child's need to pretend play. 


Before I show you how to make these, I should say that I wondered if I should call these 'monsters'. In the end I came to the conclusions that they could be a great way to take the fear out of the idea of 'monsters' if they were ever a problem for a child. :) 

Let's make some woolly monsters !!!!!

Need
  • Wool (6ply or 4ply - preferably colour changing)
  • cookie cutter or a fork
  • scissors
  • googly eyes
  • sticky tape or hot glue gun

Begin by using your cookie cutter as a frame and start wrapping your wool. 
I preferred to have a light tension on the wool as I wrapped it. 




I loved watching the colours change as I continually wrapped the wool around the cookie frame. 



Once I had wrapped as much as I felt I could manage, I very carefully slid the wool off and tied a separate piece of wool around the middle of it all. 

Using some sharp scissors I carefully snipped the loops at one end. 
This is similar to how you'd make a pompom. 
The multicoloured wool makes the base of this monster look brilliant!


Using some sticky tape I added googly eyes. To be honest, these didn't stay on very long. 
I would be glueing them with a hot glue gun. 

Making a mini wooly monster


I used a fork and wrapped my wool around it many, many times. 



Ever so carefully I slipped a piece of wool between the prongs of the fork and
tied it tightly together. 


Repeat the same process as described above and your little one is ready 
for some fun and creative imaginative play with their wooly monsters. 


Possum loved playing with the larger woolly monster the most. She was particularly interested in the googly eyes I'd stuck on. After awhile she loved moving the monster about the room like it was jumping from couch to couch. Older children would be able to let their imaginations run wild with these. 

I hope your children have fun with this idea. 
x Kate

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