Fuzzy Monsters: Craft Lightning

Do you love a good kids’ craft that can be done in 15 minutes or less?  We do too!  Today, Erin and I teamed up to show you a cute Halloween activity your kiddos are sure to love: Fuzzy Monsters!  Check it out…

fuzzy monsters

Materials:
{Thanks to our friends at Lion Brand for providing us with the yarn!}
– Styrofoam balls
Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash Yarn by Lion Brand: we used Charoite, Blue Topaz, Orange Topaz, and Peridot
– Hot glue and glue gun
– Google Eyes
– Assorted pom-poms and pipe cleaners
-Glue Dots (optional)
– Felt
– Scissors

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Step 1: Glue one end of the yarn to the styrofoam ball.  

monsters1

Step 2: Wrap the yarn around and around the ball until it’s completely covered.
Younger kiddos will need you to do most of this step for them, although they may have fun wrapping it a few times.  Older kids can probably handle it with minimal assistance.  When the ball is covered, cut your yarn and glue the other end down.

monsteres2

Step 3: Decorate!
This is the best part!  Let your little ones go crazy adding whatever size, shape, and number of eyes they like, as well as noses, antennae, and feet.  Each monster will look totally unique which is part of the fun! We used a combo of hot glue and glue dots. The glue dots worked well, because we stuck them on the back of the eyes and noses (like a sticker), and the kids could put the parts on the monster safely.

monsters5

Bam-Bam and Little Crafter both gave their monsters three eyes, while Prince C decided his needed at least five.  Little Crafter didn’t want feet on his, because he wanted it to roll around like a ball.  He also gave it eyes in the back of its head, as did Prince C.  The color combinations were totally chosen by the kids, and they each loved seeing their monster come to life!

Fuzzy Monsters

Erin’s husband Stephen decided to get extra fancy and create a monster with glowing LED eyes!  Here’s what he had to say about it…that’s right, our first ever male guest blogger!

So after seeing the monsters that Amy and Erin created I thought, monsters need glowing eyes. Since I never throw anything away, just ask Erin, I grabbed two broken window candles.  I threw away the plastic candle parts and was left with the guts.  Each candle used 3 AA batteries.  A single AA battery is 1.5 volts so three batteries meant this bulb was powered off of 4.5 volts.  I could run two eyes off of a 9 volt battery, and it would save real estate since the monsters are rather small (one 9v battery is smaller than 6 AAs).  So I got one of the styrofoam balls, traced out an outline of a rectangle from the 9v battery, and cut out a hole in the ball.  I made sure the have the battery stick out a little bit, so that I could use this as the monsters feet and provide a little bit of stability. I took some heavy wire and poked holes for the “eyes” through to the center rectangle battery hole.  I then cut a rectangle hole on the opposite side of the eyes and installed the switch.  A bit of solder to all the connections, wrapped some felt around the battery, and glued on the feet.  Then since not all monsters see perfectly, I gave him some glasses and wrapped him up with the yarn.  A few antenna later, and voila.   

stevemonster

Seriously. Isn’t that fabulous?

Step 3: Play!
Sure, these little guys make great Halloween decorations, but chances are, the little people who made them are going to want to play with them.  Ours likes to tell stories and perform in plays with some of LC’s stuffed animals and action figures.  Just giving you fair warning!

Fuzzy Monsters

If you vary the sizes of the styrofoam balls, you can make a whole monster family to enjoy; how fun is that?

Fuzzy Monsters

Just for laughs, if you want to know how our crafty brains work, this is the Facebook conversation Erin and I had when we came up with the idea:

E: The yarn reminds me of fuzzy caterpillars…grass…something I just want to pet…we could wrap it around a Styrofoam ball.

A: OOH. Yes. Give it eyeballs. Monster.

E:I was just about to say that.

A:Eyeballs, and antennae made out of wire. And Pom Poms. YES.

E: I was literally just typing that.

A: MONSTERS!

E: GET OUT OF MY HEAD! OOH! Little felt feet! Dude. So cute. Sigh…In which we type out a lot of words and come to a cute idea.

A: Nice. Teamwork. We should get the kids together….. Erin?

E: WRAP ALL THE THINGS!

Fuzzy Monsters

Meanwhile, looking for more Halloween crafts you can put together in 15 minutes or less?  Check out the Craft Lightning series at Country Chic Cottage and 30 Minute Crafts!

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11 Comments

  1. This is sooooo cute yet very simple idea and very versatile in design. Love, love it and will be working with my nieces in making these. I love crafting, here’s another idea for you if you want is to make a family of monsters…mama, papa, brother, sister, and baby…that would be cute too!!. Have a nice day 🙂 Gail aka MsLovey

  2. Oooohhhhhhhhhh! I absolutely love them & what was even more fantastic was seeing Dad jump in on it! Can’t wait to get my brood together & see what we come up with! Totally awesome!

  3. Well these are about the cutest fuzzy monsters I’ve seen.

    Wanted to let you know I’ve featured them in my Halloween crafts round up.

    Thank you for crafting them.
    Mena

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