Lacing and Yarn Craft Activities

Yarn Wrapped Bee Materials

You will need:

• Cardboard
• Scissors
• Black & yellow yarn
• Patterned paper for wings
• Googly eyes (or make your own with paper and black marker)
• Glue
• Lolly pop stick

Yarn Wrapped Bee Making Instructions:

1. Cut out an oval in cardboard. I made mine about 11cm x 9cm.
2. Using scissors, cut little v-shaped grooves around the oval edge about 2cm apart. This makes is it much easier to wrap yarn around the shapes and for the yarn to stay in place!
3. Wrap black and yellow yarn around the shape and tie the ends together at the back when finished.
4. Stick on a pair of googly eyes.
5. Draw 2 wings on the patterned paper. To make the wing shape, draw a rectangle about 8cm by 6cm. Curve one end of the rectangle and make the other end a bit narrower, taking off about 1.5cm from each of the remaining 2 corners.
6. Stick on a lolly pop stick to the bottom of the bee. Hold in place with a clothes peg until dry.

Lacing & Yarn Craft Activity 3

Owl

Lacing Owl Materials

You will need:

• Cardboard (cereal box is perfect!)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Yarn (I used about 4m in total)
• Sticky tape
• Black marker
• Googly eyes (or make your own with white paper and marker)
• Felt pens, colouring pencils or crayons
• Glue

Lacing Owl Making Instructions:

Making the Owl Shape

1. Using the inside of a cereal box, draw a rectangle about 27cm x 17cm.
2. At one end of the rectangle, draw a curve at each corner. At the other end, draw a curve from one corner to the other, 4cm deep in the middle. This will create the shape of the owl ears.
3. Now cut the owl shape out of the cardboard.
4. On the owl shape, draw a circle for the owl’s tummy as shown in top left image. Carefully insert scissors into the centre of the inside circle and cut upwards in a straight line, then around the edges as we will need this circle to create the 2 owl wings.
5. Cut the circle in half to form 2 semi-circles and neaten the straight edges.  Keep these for the wings.
6. Punch holes around the cut out circle on the owl, spacing them about 2cm apart.

Owl Lacing

1. Cut lengths of yarn to thread into these holes. I used about 3m in total for my owl but I’d recommend using multiple shorter lengths for children to thread. One long length is a bit tricky, as mine got tangled at times! Lengths of about 70-90cm would be easier. Secure one end of the yarn to the back of the owl with sticky tape. Wrap sticky tape around the other end to create a stiffened end to make it easier to thread through the holes. Once each length is finished, stick it to the back of the owl and start the next one.

Owl Face & Wings

1. Draw a triangular beak on your owl and on stick googly eyes. I didn’t have any googly eyes so I drew my own on white paper using a black marker as shown in the centre bottom image.
2. Now take the 2 semi circles and using felt pens, colouring pencils or crayons, decorate the owl’s wings and colour in the beak.
3. Once the wings are finished, glue them to either side of the owl.
4. If you’d like to hang up your owl, then punch a hole at the top of the owl and using a 30-cm length of yarn, make a loop.

Lacing & Yarn Craft Activity 4

Yarn Wrapped Bird

Yarn Wrapped Bird Materials

You will need:

• Cardboard (I used a mailing envelope)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Yarn
• Small pieces of coloured card
• Glue
• Googly eye (or make your own with white paper and black marker)
• Decorative bits for the wings, such as buttons, sequins, lace
• Sticky tape
• 2 small twigs for the legs

Yarn Wrapped Bird Making Instructions:

1. Draw a bird shape on cardboard. I made mine about 15cm long by 10cm. Cut the bird shape out.
2. Using scissors, cut little v-shaped grooves around the shape about 2cm apart. This makes is it much easier to wrap yarn around the shapes and for the yarn to stay in place!
3. To begin wrapping yarn around the bird, firstly secure the yarn with a knot around the tail, using the first slit. Wrap the yarn around the shape and tie the other end around yarn at the back when finished.
4. Stick on a googly eye or draw your own, cut out and stick on.
5. Using the coloured card, draw a wing in the shape of a tear drop and cut out a triangle for the beak. Stick the wing and beak in place.
6. Decorate the bird’s wing with buttons, stickers etc.
7. Using sticky tape or glue, stick 2 short twigs to the bottom of the bird for its legs. My twigs were 7cm long. If using glue to attach the twigs, it may be easier to hold them in place with a clothes peg until dry.

Lacing & Yarn Craft Activity 5

Zebra

Lacing Zebra Materials

You will need:

• 2 Paper plates
• Black marker
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Grey and black paint or felt pens
• Black yarn
• Sticky tape

Lacing Zebra Making Instructions:

Making the Zebra Head

1. Using one of the paper plates, draw a zebra-shaped head on the plate as shown in top left image. Cut the shape out.
2. Paint or colour in the zebra muzzle with grey paint as shown. Once the paint is dry, draw on a nostril and smile!
3. Now punch holes along the outer edges of the zebra’s head. I punched 7 holes along the bottom edge, starting from the zebra’s muzzle and finishing about 2.5cm in from the curved edge where the mane will later be attached.
4. Along the top edge, I punched 4 holes about 2.5cm in from the zebra muzzle. I then left a gap for the zebra’s eye – about 7cm – before punching 7 holes along the curved edge, finishing 6cm from the bottom edge.

Zebra Mane, Ears and Eye

1. With the other paper plate, draw the zebra’s mane along the curved edge. I made mine about 22cm measuring along the curved edge and 5cm deep. Draw 2 lines to divide the mane into 3 parts, which will help when painting the mane later.
2. Draw 2 ear shapes, measuring 8cm long and 5cm wide at the bottom. Curve the top of the ears to make a point.
3. For the zebra’s eye, draw a 2.5cm circle and colour in the pupil.
4. Cut out the mane, ears and eye.
5. Paint the zebra’s mane with black paint. I painted the 2 outer parts black and left the middle section white.
6. Using grey paint or felt pen, add detail to the zebra’s ears.
7. Paint or colour in the zebra muzzle with grey paint or felt pen as shown. If using paint, wait for it to dry and then draw on a nostril and smile!
8. Now glue the zebra’s mane and ears to the curved outer edge of the zebra’s head. Make sure you don’t glue the mane and ears too low so that they cover the punched holes.
9. Glue the zebra’s eye in place, positioning it in between the gaps in the punched holes so the yarn stripes won’t cover the eye.

Lacing the Zebra Stripes

1. Now cut lengths of black yarn about 70-90cm long. Stick one end of the yarn to the back of the zebra with sticky tape. I cut a piece of sticky tape about 4cm and wrapped it around the loose end of the yarn. This creates a stiffened end which makes it easier to thread the yarn through the holes.
2. Thread the yarn through the holes – I started at the lower edge by the zebra’s muzzle. Have fun creating the zebra stripes with the black yarn. When each piece of yarn is finished, simply secure it at the back with sticky tape and start the next length until you’re happy with the stripes you’ve created!

I really hope you have lots of fun with these lacing and yarn craft activities.

For more creative activities, why not have a look at fairytale crafts, egg box crafts, paper plate crafts and paper chain crafts too!

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