Make Monster Stuffed Animals – Fun Softie Monsters Craft

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If your kids are anything like my kids, they love stuffed animals. We decided that it would really be fun to make our own stuffed pets.

(“Guess what? We should make some stuffed toys and then we don’t have to go to the store to buy more and when we know how to make them we can just say we want more stuffed toys and then we will cut some out and sew them and we don’t have to wait to go buy them!”)

These felt animals, known as softies, are really easy to make, especially if you decide to make them two dimensional, sort of like pillows in animal or monster shapes. You can find plenty of patterns online, but creating our own patterns from some drawings the kids made was really simple and made our softies unique. Because they seem to really allow kids to get creative, perhaps because there is no “right” way for them to look, we decided to create monster stuffed animals instead of something fluffy like a chick or a bunny! This project does require grown up help for most children under the age of 12.

To make your monster softie, you will need:

• Two pieces of felt
• Child’s drawing of a monster that is smaller than nine inches by twelve inches (This is the standard size of a piece of felt.)
• Tracing paper
• Scrap cardstock or lightweight cardboard
• Pins
• Scissors
• Permanent marker
• Googly eyes (Optional)
• Felt glue
• Sewing machine (This is optional, but a lot easier, because gluing a stuffed critter shut is tough.)
• Fiberfil or other stuffing (We used tissues for our stuffing.)

Begin by taking the drawing and carfully tracing the outside edges. You may need to make some adjustments where lines are too skinny or where the creature is a bit complicated, but try to keep the traced pattern as close to the original drawing as possible. Transfer the traced pattern to the cardstock or cardboard and cut it out to form a template.

Stack the two pieces of felt on top of each other, being sure all the edges line up evenly. Place the template on top of the felt and pin it in place. Cut carefully around the template.

Use your sewing machine to zigzag stitch around the outer edges of the felt pieces, leaving a two inch gap on one side. Have your kids push the fiberfil or other stuffing into the gap until the softie is nice and plump. Sew up the gap.

Hand the softie, the marker, the googly eyes and the glue over to your kids so they can give their softie a face with tons of personality.

Now, you just have to convince them that one monster stuffed toy is enough!

Photo of  monster stuffed toy copyright K. Thomas.

Katelyn Thomas is a freelance writer, mixed media artist and busy mom. You can find her parenting and frugal living tips at Mama On the Go.

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