These DIY Yarn Monsters were an utter delight to make and I have laughed all the way through writing this blog post at the photographs I have been editing. This is such an enjoyable craft from start to finish and my girls just adore playing with these little critters, plus they look really cool dotted around the house.
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You may also like this cool roundup I did of Monsters Made From Yarn, these cool Fuggler Monsters, my other Yarn Crafts and of course I have a heap of Halloween crafts that you will find links to at the bottom of the page.
Materials Needed To Make Your DIY Yarn Monsters
As far as monster crafts go, these yarn monsters are probably one of the quickest and easiest to do. They use material that most people have in their craft cupboards. And there is no need for a hot glue gun, which I think is especially important when doing crafts with young (early years) children.
Below is a checklist of the materials I use, with links to Amazon in case you are missing anything. And at the bottom of the page you’ll find a printout of the instructions to use.
- Yarn (various colours),
- 30cm pipe cleaners
- Googly eyes
- Eye Stickers
- Scissors
- PVA glue (white glue)
I, personally, love cotton pipe cleaners as they not only look good but are easier to glue things onto but you can use any kind of Pipe cleaner you have to hand.
How To Make Yarn Monsters
The following detailed instructions to make a Yarn Monster include step-by-step photos and a description.
1. First take your pipe cleaner and bend it in half. Next twist the pipe cleaner about 1/3 of the way down, just shy of the three-finger width (adult hand) that you will wrap the yarn around. If a child is using their hand you may need to use all 4 of their fingers as the measure.
2. Now wrap yarn around your fingers so you get a nice thick wodge. You want a nice floofy, thick yarn monster, so ‘overdoing’ is better than ‘underdoing’ the yarn wrap stage.
3. With the yarn still wrapped around your fingers, carefully slide one of the pipe cleaner legs through the wodge of yarn and twist tightly to secure.
4. Carefully snip through the loops of yarn trying to keep the lengths even.
5. Gently fold the yarn strands down to cover the hooped part of the pipe cleaner and trim any irregular bits/short pieces, that hang down. Bend the looped part of the pipe cleaner to create a little foot that will help your Yarn Monster stand up.
6. Next curl each of the remaining pipe cleaner strands to create flat tight circles which will form your Yarn Monsters eyes.
7. Finally add some googly eyes or sticker eyes and let the Yarn Monster fun begin!
Halloween Crafts You May Also Like
I’ve always loved Halloween with all the ghosts and monsters and have quite a few other crafts that are perfect for children of all ages.
Ghost And Bat Bunting
Sugar Skull Doll
Feather & Fealt Halloween Garland
Spider Wreath Made From An Old T-Shirt
Felt Spiders
Ghost & Skull Soaps
How To Make Yarn Monsters
Materials
- Yarn various colours,
- 30 cm pipe cleaners
- Googy eyes
- Eye Stickers
- Scissors
- PVA glue white glue
Instructions
How To Make Yarn Monsters
- First take your pipe cleaner and bend it in half. Next twist the pipe cleaner about 1/3 of the way down, just shy of the three-finger width (adult hand) that you will wrap the yarn around. If a child is using their hand you may need to use all 4 of their fingers as the measure.
- Now wrap yarn around your fingers so you get a nice thick wodge. You want a nice floofy, thick yarn monster, so ‘overdoing’ is better than ‘underdoing’ the yarn wrap stage.
- With the yarn still wrapped around your fingers, carefully slide one of the pipe cleaner legs through the wodge of yarn and twist tightly to secure.
- Slide the yarn and pipe cleaner off your fingers and, using sharp scissors, carefully cut through all the loops of yarn trying to keep the lengths even.
- Gently fold the yarn strands down to cover the hooped part of the pipe cleaner and trim any irregular bits/short pieces, that hang down. Bend the looped part of the pipe cleaner to create a little foot that will help your Yarn Monster stand up.
- Next curl each of the remaining pipe cleaner strands to create flat tight circles which will form your Yarn Monsters eyes.
- Finally add some googly eyes or sticker eyes and let the Yarn Monster fun begin!
Oh, these are super cute! It looks similar to making a pom pom but I just love the way these come out!
Haha those are amazing! What some fantastic creatures. x
Haha those are amazing! What some fantastic creatures. x
Oh wow these are absolutely brilliant, I love the eyes on the bright orange one… x
Oh wow these are absolutely brilliant, I love the eyes on the bright orange one… x
ahh! So cute and eay to make too! My son would love playing with these. x
ahh! So cute and eay to make too! My son would love playing with these. x
Super cute! I have a ten year old who owns a large stash of tangled wool, I am sure she would love to make these! 🙂
Super cute! I have a ten year old who owns a large stash of tangled wool, I am sure she would love to make these! 🙂
Oh, these are so cute!
I’m sure we have some wool upstairs somewhere 😉
Oh my these are ace, so cute and simple to make. A perfect kids craft. I adore them
Oh my these are ace, so cute and simple to make. A perfect kids craft. I adore them
I laughed at you laughing whilst writing this post! They are very cute and remind me of something from my childhood… Do they remind you of Dougal from The Magic Roundabout?!!
These look brilliant! I might have to surprise the boys with a set of them one day as I know they would entertain them for hours!
These look brilliant! I might have to surprise the boys with a set of them one day as I know they would entertain them for hours!
Oh this look so simple but really effective – will certainly be trying to make these
This look so much fun and they are really easy to make too.
This look so much fun and they are really easy to make too.
I’ve got a bit of a wool stash at the moment and I think my son would like these.
I’ve got a bit of a wool stash at the moment and I think my son would like these.
If it was possible to love yarn monsters, I would now be in love! These are so damn cute! x
If it was possible to love yarn monsters, I would now be in love! These are so damn cute! x
OMG these are so cute!! love them! x
OMG these are so cute!! love them! x
I think my cats would like these to play with!
I think my cats would like these to play with!
These look so fab! Easy to do too, definitely going to give them go with the kids
These look so fab! Easy to do too, definitely going to give them go with the kids
What a cute little craft and super easy!
What a cute little craft and super easy!
Oh these are ace! POD would love some yarn monsters and she’s big enough now to be let loose with the scissors. Actually maybe not but she’d love to make them though!
Oh these are ace! POD would love some yarn monsters and she’s big enough now to be let loose with the scissors. Actually maybe not but she’d love to make them though!
I ADORE these! very clever and SUPER cute!
I ADORE these! very clever and SUPER cute!
I’m an OT and thought this may be fun to do for quiet hand fidgets.
I’m an OT and thought this may be fun to do for quiet hand fidgets.
Oh my word……..these are adorable.
My grandaughter is going to love making some of these when she comes to stay at the weekend.
Thank you for the inspiration.
Oh my word……..these are adorable.
My grandaughter is going to love making some of these when she comes to stay at the weekend.
Thank you for the inspiration.
AWESOME!
AWESOME!
These were fun to make and very cute, but I may have made a wrong turn somewhere; shortly after making them with my 3 year old son, I was finding pieces of yarn trailing behind him from playing too rough with the monsters or pulling some pieces through.
Maybe better for kids a little older or gentler
These were fun to make and very cute, but I may have made a wrong turn somewhere; shortly after making them with my 3 year old son, I was finding pieces of yarn trailing behind him from playing too rough with the monsters or pulling some pieces through.
Maybe better for kids a little older or gentler
How many monsters can I expect to get out of one pound yarn?
How many monsters can I expect to get out of one pound yarn?
Do you happen to have a template for the cute eyes? They give so much personality to your monsters.
My kids aren’t that creative or quiet about it “not being right” when they make something. I don’t want to end up doing it for them. Printing them out sometimes is much simpler & practices scissor skills and maybe tracing skills too!
Never mind. I found the stickers.
Glad you found them. I buy them on a roll in craft stores xxx
Do you happen to have a template for the cute eyes? They give so much personality to your monsters.
My kids aren’t that creative or quiet about it “not being right” when they make something. I don’t want to end up doing it for them. Printing them out sometimes is much simpler & practices scissor skills and maybe tracing skills too!
Never mind. I found the stickers.
Glad you found them. I buy them on a roll in craft stores xxx
Oh these are adorable! A great weekend project for me and the kids xxx