DIY Penguin Christmas Tree Ornament

This Felt Penguin Ornament Christmas Craft Activity is perfect for kids, tweens and teens who can sew. This penguin is actually cute all year round. You can add some Christmas scent to this little fellow as a scented gift idea.

List of Supplies:
1. Felt fabric –black, white, orange and another color of your choice
2. Pencil or pen – for tracing the template
3. Scissors
4. Needle and thread
5. Ribbon
6. Pink sharpie

Penguin Template

Step 1:
Trace the 2 main body parts on black felt fabric (you can choose any other color if you want to).
Trace the other body part on white felt; the beak and feet on orange felt and lastly, trace the strip
(muffler) on any colored felt you want.

Step 2:
Prepare orange thread in needle and stitch the beak on the white body part.

Step 3:
Use black thread to stitch the eyes. Trace the eye shape on the white body part using a pencil.
Simply stitch along the traced eye pattern.

Step 4:
Use the pink sharpie to draw 2 blush patterns on both cheeks. Place the white body part on any one
of the black body parts. Prepare white thread in needle and stitch along the outer edge of the white
piece to join it with the black piece.

Step 5:
Done stitching the white piece? Now place the prepared piece (from the previous step) on the other
black body part. Make sure that all sides are matched.

Step 6:
Take a small piece of ribbon (about 6 inches will do) and fold it into half.

Step 7:
Insert the 2 open ends of the folded ribbon between the 2 black body parts, on the top end. Prepare
black thread and needle. Start to stitch the 2 black body parts together from the top end, stitching
both black parts and the ribbon together.

Step 8:
Keep a small opening to stuff the felt penguin.

Step 9:
I am using left over felt fabrics. Cut the left over felt penguins into small pieces to prepare them for
stuffing.

Step 10:
Simply insert the felt pieces into the felt penguin through the open end.

Step 11:
Stitch to close the open end once you are done stuffing.

Step 12:
Take the felt strip and wrap it around the penguin’s neck. Do a small stitch on the join of the muffler
to secure it.
Add more details if you want to.
Enjoy!

After talking about the pirate themed chalk obstacle course the other day, I got to thinking about other easy, low prep games and activities you can do with kids outside. A lot of these are ideas I found on Pinterest that don’t link to blogs anymore if they ever did, but often that’s all the detail you need to figure out what’s going on.

First, a couple from blogs that are still alive. If you have a lot of trees in your yard or in your park, you probably also have a lot of sticks, so you can pretty easily do this stick maze activity from Mother Natured. Build the maze yourself or have one child build if for another. Either way it’s lots of fun and you can keep it built to use as a labyrinth or for pretend play.

If it’s hot where you live you might want outdoor activities that involve water like this fill the bucket relay game. The only thing you might not have at home is giant sponges, but this is still pretty low prep, inexpensive and lots of fun if you have two or more kids to play. Check out how to do it from The Resourceful Mama. And check out my post all about ice and water sensory activities for more ideas to beat the heat.

Make some x’s and o’s or use something you already have to be your game pieces (you can also just draw them on paper plates for a super fast version) and make a large tic tac toe board on the sidewalk. The bonus of reusable game pieces is kids can play with the same grid over and over, which is great if you don’t have a ton of space.

I also love the idea of drawing a big bullseye on the sidewalk or driveway and using beanbags or sponges to try to hit the target. If you have hula hoops you can also set them in a grassy area and have kids try to hit them.

Check out more fun outdoor games for kids from The Printable Princess. These are more for big groups of kids, but if you’ve got a classroom full these are good ones to have on hand for getting some energy out.

Do you have favorite outdoor games for kids to play when it’s hot? I’d love to hear about them!

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