DIY Funny Pom Pom Sheep for Kids
Updated on June 23, 2021
Ever since I was a kid, I’veloved making pom poms. Even now that I’m an adult, I find that there’s just something to satisfying about not only making the fluffy pom poms from scratch themselves but also turning them into fun things. Springtime is coming so, on top of looking for crafts that involve not only the techniques I enjoy most but also the ones my kids like best, I’ve also been looking for cute crafts that my kids and I can make together to celebrate the new plants and baby animals that come with the snow melting. That’s how we found ourselves making a whole flock of adorable little pom pom sheep last week!
Check out these step by step instructions complete with photos! If you’d rather follow along with a video tutorial instead of written words, scroll to the bottom of this post to find just what you’re looking for.
For this project, you’ll need:
- Grey yarn
- Scissors
- Hot glue
- Black felt
- Pipe cleaner (black and fuzzy white)
- Googly eyes
Step 1: Gather your materials!
I always make sure I have everything from my list and in front of me.
Step 2: Star cutting your yarn
Make your DIY yarn pom pom! There are plenty of ways to make a voluminous, sizeable pom pom out there and really any of them will work for this project. You could choose to use an actual plastic pom pom maker, a homemade cardboard template, a fork, or even just your hand! I made mine by pinching a doubled over tie piece between the base of my middle and ring fingers, wrapping the live end of my ball of yarn around all four fingers held together, tying the first piece around the middle to cinch the new bundle, sliding it off my fingers, and cutting the ends (just like you’ll see me do in the video). Make sure you fluff your pom pom nicely and trim its fringey tips all the way around so you get a nice, even sphere. This will be your sheep’s body!
Step 3: make the ears
Cut out your sheep’s face and ears from your sheet of black felt. I cut a one inch by one inch square and two one inch by quarter inch rectangles and then rounded off the two bottom corners and side and bottom straight edges of each to get three oblong rounded shapes with straight top edges; two slimmer ones to be the ears and one wider shape to be the sheep’s face. Feel free to round, trim, narrow, or adjust your shapes as you please until you’re happy with how they look in reference to each other.
Step 4: make the legs
Fold your piece of black pipe cleaner in half so its ends meet evenly and cut it at the middle where it curves halfway down the pipe cleaner’s length. Fold each of these halves in half again to cutthose into two pieces as well, giving you four pieces of black pipe cleaner that are all the same length; each one a quarter of the original pipe cleaner. Curl each of these four pieces over at one end, the same amount on each, to make four little legs with rounded feet on the bottoms.
Step 5: glue the eyes
Glue your googly eyes to your sheep’s face, the larger black felt piece that you cut out before, leaving enough space at the top where the straight edge is to add hair there in a moment. Then take each of your two little felt ear shapes, apply a dot of glue to the straight edged end, and pinch each one so the corners of its straight edge come together but its rounded end stays open; it’ll resemble more of the shape of a sheep’s actual ear. Now cut a piece from your curly, fluffy, or textured piece of pipe cleaner that is double the length of the top straight edge of your sheep’s face. Fold that piece in half so it’s doubled, apply glue along the straight top edge of the face, and stick the textured and doubled piece of pipe cleaner down there. Turn the face around and apply a dot of glue on each side near the top on the back. Stick the ears down there at their pinched ends, so their rounded ends stick out to the side and the opened side faces the same way as the side with the googly eyes. You sheep now has a completed head! Apply glue to the back of the head and stick it to the pom pom body, wherever you want it to sit or think it looks best.
Step 6: attach the legs
Now you’ll glue your pipe cleaner legs onto the bottom of your pom pom, or your sheep’s body! Trim them to whatever length suits your pom pom best. Apply glue to the uncurled end or each one and stick all four evenly in a square on the bottom of the sheep so the little rounded feet stick out. Finally, use one of your little trimmed black pipe cleaner ends as a tail! Apply glue to one of the piece’s tips and stick it to the back of your sheep, on the opposite side of where you stuck down the head.
That’s really all there is to it! Feel free to get create with your wool colours or even use this basic technique but with different details to try and make other kinds of pom pom animals. Just in case you’d like to try this project out for yourself, here’s a fantastic tutorial video to help you!