Stuffed crayon project, teacher approved!

How fitting, now that the grandkids are back in school, to feature a DIY project—stuffed felt crayons—beloved by a kindergarten teacher with 31 years of teaching experience! Also a devoted grandmother of three little ones, this Philosopher Grandma reader offered the great ideas and photos I’m passing on (thank you!). 

These colorful “crayons” are easy to make, assuming you have access to a sewing machine (or the time and patience to stitch by hand) and basic sewing, cutting, and gluing skills. And they make a cute and fun addition to a child’s bedroom or toy room. The PG reader’s kindergarten students had so much fun with a set of them that they wore them out. Now the three grandchildren have their own.

Materials

• Brightly colored felt, 11x7” size. For teaching purposes, choose the primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and other basic colors such as green, purple, orange, pink, black, and white

• Extra black and white felt for black trim around most crayons, white trim around the black one

• Poly-fil stuffing

• Labels: Something like these might be good for durability (especially if you have a use for the 150 leftover labels). But any sticky label will do, as you can replace them as needed.

• Glue gun and glue

• Sewing machine (or needle)

• Thread: Black, or as you prefer

• Scissors

• Optional: Wax pencil for marking sewing line.

Instructions

• For each crayon, fold a piece of felt in half the long way.

• Cut one end to make a triangular top.

• Optional: On each piece, mark your sewing line approximately 1/4” from the edge of the fabric.

• Stitch the long open side and the tip, leaving the short open side (bottom of “crayon”) unstitched.

• Stuff the resulting sack with poly-fil.

• Sew the bottom shut.

• For each crayon, cut four black strips about ¼” wide and  long enough to wrap fully around the crayon.

• Glue the strips on using the glue gun.

• Neatly (remember, this project is kindergarten-teacher approved!) print the color names on the labels.

• Glue or stick the labels on.

Voilá!

Now, play! 

Our PG reader sends along the following ways her students and grandchildren have enjoyed using the crayons:

• Make a game of carrying the crayons and matching them by color to objects in the room or on clothing. (You could make matching color splotches to post on tag board or around a room.)

• Use the crayons to line up for games or races (stand at the red line, green line, etc.). Preschool-age grandkids would love using the crayons as starting lines for races or finishing lines for jumping contests.

• Kids who are ready could identify the letters or words on the color labels (find the Bs on the Blue and Black, for example).

• Fire up the child’s imagination by holding up one crayon, maybe the red one, and asking, “What can you think of that’s red?” Have fun thinking of basic ideas (apple, tomato), or wilder ones (ketchup on the kitty!).

If you’ve got several grandchildren or a group of friends, the crayons give variety to a couple of classic games.

• Play musical chairs. Lay the crayons in a circle. Choose a particular color to be the winning (or just cheering!) spot when the music stops.

• Play duck, duck, gray duck (or duck, duck, goose if you’re not in Minnesota). The “fox” uses a crayon to gently tap the heads of the other children while saying “duck” or, finally, “gray duck [goose]” to designate the chaser.

Finally, when you’re cleaning up, which color crayon gets the most points for landing back in the basket?