Easter Craft: How to make a Dress-up Easter Bunny

Maybe you can relate to the following problem: Having too many fabric scraps around. When you are doll maker you end up with lots of fabric scraps that are too small to make doll clothes with yet too precious to throw away...So they keep piling up in my house. I have to confess, when it comes to fabric, I am a terrible hoarder. Remember the frienship peg dolls from my February post? I am thrilled to have come up with yet another craft that will help me shrink my pile...

Make this cute Easter bunny craft!

A couple of years ago my sister sent me an Easter package. Besides yummy German chocolate, it held this darling bunny she made with her kids. Her bunny was made from construction paper and card stock only...

This weekend we created our own dress-up bunny. The kids and I had a blast making them!

All you need for this craft is:

1.Poster board or thick paper in white, black, brown, or bunny color
2.Fabric Scraps
3.Glue (we used Elmer's for the clothing, but had to resort to hot glue gun for the bunnies neck...)
4.Yarn
5.marker

I am not much on templates but I scanned in the basic shapes you need for your dress-up bunny. You can use your own free form drawings but don't fret to copy mine. You can make it as large or small as you feel right. Our finished bunnies measured around 7 inches from top of the ear to the feet.

Step 1: use your poster board or card stock to cut out one bunny body and one head with ears (white parts in the picture)

Step 2: cut from fabric scraps two sets of pants (making sure to flip the pattern over so they match), then cut one pocket, one Easter Egg to go in the pocket.

Variation: For a girl bunny you can just leave out the v-shape divot, and cut out a dress instead...

Step 3: glue the clothes onto the body. Pants or respective dress parts go on front and back. Then glue egg and pocket over the egg.

Step 4: Make a neck by braiding three pieces of yarn together. The little braided neck is about 1 inch long. Make a knot on each side. An adult (or authorized person) should now use a hot glue gun to glue the knots to the body and head part.

Step 5: Take a black marker or pen and add the bunnies face and color in the ear part.

Step 6: Poke a little hole in the top of the head, right above the eyes and pull a piece of thread or strong twine through, loop around and make knot in the back.

Done! You can hang your cute bunnies anywhere you like. They will look great hanging from an Easter bouquet or centerpiece on your table. We hung ours from the chandelier over the dining table. You could even make a cute Easter mobile with them. Or use them as a card?

Happy Crafting!

How to make a Woodmouse

I am dedicating this craft to our friend Amber woodmouse, who was one of the original founders of the Etsy NaturalKids Team. Hopefully she will see this post and be proud of our efforts to keep the Naturalkids Team going strong!

I realize that not everybody may own some of the tools used , (vice) but maybe you could pay a visit to grandpa's or an uncle's house and have them do this project with your child. =)

Materials:
scraps of wood, fir or pine wood left over from dad’s projects…
nails with wide heads
pieces of leather
a few drops of wood glue

Tools:
a small handsaw
vice
kidsize hammer
drill or awl
scissors
sandpaper
wood rasp

My son has loved working with wood since he’s been a little fellow, 3 and 4 years old. My husband and I have always encouraged him to work on his little wood projects in the basement. But please, keep in mind that this craft needs quite a bit of adult supervision! You should stay right by your child’s side and help them every step of the way, especially if they are younger! You know your child best! The amount of supervision depends on your child’s skill level and personality. I recommend it for kids 6 and up who like to swing a hammer and have an interest in wood work.

1.Take your piece of scrap wood and put in the vice. You will need rectangular pieces of wood cut into about 3-4 inches long sections. We used some old pieces of pine wood from a yard project. They were slats measuring 1.5x1x10 inches. This great for teaching your child about measuring. You can have them mark off the length off several pieces. Have them draw straight lines across the wood piece and cut along the lines.

2. Since mice have a pointy nose, the front of the mouse body needs to be shaped with two angular cuts. Again, have your child mark off the cuts with a pencil. Just tell them they need to cut off two triangular pieces at the tip and have them cut along these lines. ( Great for learning about geometry. =)

3. With the wood piece mounted in the vice, have your child use a wood rasp to smooth out all the edges. The head section needs to be flattened and shaped into a nice pointy nose. The back end can just be slightly rounded off. Don’t forget the sides!

4. Mark off the position of the eyes, ears, and tail with pencil. Then have your child hammer two nails all the way into the wood piece where you marked the eyes. They should be a closer together than the ears!

5. The next step is probably best done by an adult. Drill three holes in the spot where you marked the ears, and the tail.

6. Cut out ears and long thing piece of leather for the tail. Use a few drops of wood glue and glue the leather pieces onto the mouse body.

7. Finally use small pieces of sandpaper and sand off the rough or marked places. You can make your mouse as smooth and soft as you like. If you want to protect the the body from stains and water you could rub on some mineral oil or beeswax finish with a piece of cloth. We decided we liked the more roughhewn look of our new pets. =)