Crafts

Make your own baa-rilliant sleepy sheep pom pom garland

Warning: an a-lamb-ingly fun activity

Our sleepy new adventure Bedtime For You is the perfect personalised bedtime story for small humans. In this craft activity, you’ll bring to life the cute ‘n’ fluffy sheep from the story in pom pom form – perfect for counting as your little one gently slips into the land of nod.

See the book

You’ll need:

Pom pom maker (or cardboard)
Scissors
White or cream yarn
Hot glue gun (or fabric glue)
Pencil
Needle

Step 1

If you’ve got a pom pom maker, congratulations! You can jump straight to step 3.
If not, cut out four cardboard circles a little bigger than you want your pom poms to end up. (Ours are roughly four inches wide.)

Step 2

Cut a smaller circle in the middle of two of the cardboard circles. Make sure the circle is big enough for you to easily get your fingers into – you’ll be teasing yarn through it in a jiffy.

Step 3

Cut two pieces of yarn, each one about six feet long. Put both of the circles that have holes in them together. Then press the ends of both pieces of yarn tight against the circle and start winding the yarn around the doughnut-shaped cardboard.

Step 4

When you’ve finished winding the yarn, use the other two cardboard circles to ‘sandwich’ the pom pom. While holding the pom pom tight between the cardboard sandwich, use scissors to cut through the ends of the loops.

Step 5

Cut two pieces of black yarn about 6 inches long and tie the pom pom tightly in between the cardboard circles. Then pull the pom pom out through the holes in the cardboard circles.

Step 6

Use a pencil to draw a head shape, two ears and two eyes on to pink felt, then cut the shapes out with scissors.

Step 7

Draw your finest sheep face on the face part of the template. Then stick all the shapes on to the pom pom. In the right place – otherwise you’ll have a funny looking sheep.

Step 8

Use a needle to thread a long piece of yarn through the centre of each sheep pom pom, connecting them in one giant sheep train. Repeat steps 1-7 for each new member of the flock.

Did you know?

Why do we count sheep to fall asleep? Good question. One theory is that back in ancient times, shepherds counted their sheep at night to stop them from falling asleep, hoping that none would go missing to pesky predators before the sun rose again. Nowadays, we do the opposite. The plot thickens…