Toys For A Doll's Preschool

        I have found these clever little toys in dollar bins or less than five dollar bins of stores like Target, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and Walmart. They are perfect for dressing up a dolly daycare center.

Toy ark includes: lion, elephant, hippo, giraffe, penguin and a crocodile. There should be two of 
every animal but there isn't in this set. Penny shows the size comparisons.

       The toy above is a Noah's Ark, painted wood with cheerful animal characters. The is a long tradition of toys made in this country based upon this Biblical theme. Long ago, people referred to them as ''Sunday Toys.'' These toys were only played with quietly on Sunday and were somehow related to Bible stories for children to be taught and remembered.

Miniature building blocks com in red, green, blue, yellow and purple colors. Penny for size 
comparison.

       Above are adorable examples of connecting building ''blocks.'' Small plastic shapes that fit together, not very block-like, but still a wonderful toy to make all kinds of displays for dolls to admire.

• See cute way to display toys in a collections here
• Toys on a shelf display . . . 

Constructing a Corner Cupboard for Barbie

       A corner cupboard is an excellent place to display precious things your doll loves like her unique porcelain or pottery. She might also keep books or a CD player/VCR or stereo stacked neatly on the shelves and the shelving with cabinets below would be a nice place to store board games possibly. In any case, the corner cupboard takes up very little space inside of a dollhouse. It is an unusual looking piece; this one is covered with a rustic Shabby Chic style wood grain.

Here you can see the height of the cup-
board compared to a 10 - 11 inch doll.

Supply List:

• one recycled box standing approx. 2-3 inches above the height of a Barbie doll
• decorative scrapbook papers
• white school glue
• masking tape
• Three wooden beads the same size for the cupboard feet
• two decorative beads for the cupboard door knobs
• extra cardboard
• VELCRO tape - hook and loop sticky back tape
• tape measure or ruler with marking pen
  

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Choose a sturdy, newish box that is the correct height. Measure five inches from the best corner and mark this with a pen. Do this from the top to bottom of your selected box corner. Cut the corner away from the box all around until it is free.
2. Cut a flat face of the cubboard from scrap cardboard, mine measured 7'' inches wide and 13 1/2'' inches tall. Set this piece aside until you are ready for it. It will cover the front of the corner cupboard.
3. I cut four cardboard triangles slightly smaller than the two at the top and bottom of the cabinet. These measured 6 /12'' x 4 3/4''. 
4. Insert these four shelves, two inches apart using both white glue and masking tape to reinforce the application.
5. I left an opening at the bottom of the cupboard 5 1/4'' x 6 1/2''. This section will be closed in by cabinets.
6. Now cut the arched opening from the front cardboard cut mentioned in step 2. This opening should frame the four shelves and the top part of the inside cupboard with an inch boarder. There will be cardboard left over that is cut away. Cut from this piece an additional short, one inch boarder for the bottom of the inside cupboard. Cut also a cross bar for the inside of the cupboard as well, 2 1/2'' x 1''. See bottom, left photograph with cabinet doors open below to see how I glued all of these front cupboard pieces in place. Cover all of these surfaces evenly with decorative papers and smooth applications of white glue. Giving everything time to dry.
7. Cut two identical cabinet doors for the cupboard from scrap cardboard, 3 1/4'' x 4 3/4'' Attach these to swing open from the center cupboard. Use masking tape at the far left and right sides of the cupboard to do this step. This attachment will be reinforced with paper that will strengthen it for play.
8. In the center of the cross bar, behind the cabinet doors, hot glue the VELCRO tape in place. This will serve to hold the cabinet doors shut.
9. Decoupage the remaining decorative papers over the outside surfaces of the corner cupboard.
10. Hot glue the cabinet door handles on using beads.
11. Hot glue the 'feet' to the bottom of the cupboard using three beads. This part optional.

Left, see beads glued on the bottom for cupboard feet. Center, the corner cupboard takes up little
 space. Right, as seen from above.

Left, the corner cupboard with the cabinet doors open, see the VELCRO tape fastenings. Right,
the backside of the cupboard has an interesting paper covering, wood Herringbone design.

See More Barbie Cupboards and Cabinets:

• Upcycle a box into a doll bookcase
• Transform a curio cabinet for Barbie

Craft a heating pad for dolly neck pain...

Soothing heating wrap for aches and pains.

       You can craft a sock shaped heating pad to sooth away your doll's aches and pains, then heat it up in a pretend kitchen microwave. Heating pads like these may also be turned into cold packs by cooling them down inside of a dolly freezer.

       To make a miniature sized heating pad you will need the following supplies; a white sock, twine, poly pellets, needle and thread to match.

       Cut a long narrow tube shape from a clean recycled sock. You may have one of these in your sock drawer at home that has lost a mate. If you didn't, I would certainly be surprised by that!

       Sew the long side seam shut with a row or two of very tight stitches or you could use fabric tack to do the same, if you do not yet know how to sew.

       Then cut two lengths of twine into loops for each end of the heating pad. Insert one of these just inside of one end of the sock tube. Make sure that the raw edges of this sock are slightly turned in as well and then sew the opening and the twine loop shut.

       Fill the sock tube at the opposite opening with poly pellets. Then repeat the steps used the first end on the second. See photos.

Left, poly pellets pictured. Center, all you need for this craft is a tube sock, twine, and filler. Right,
 the heating/cooling pads needed for a sick or hurt doll are finished.

 

More Home Remedies for Sick Dolls:

• Dolly's Doctor
• Dolly's Mamma

More Ways to Heat-Up Aching Doll Joints:

• How to make a doll-sized hot water bottle...
• Sew a doll's electric blanket for a cold winter night!

Transform doll crates for a doll sized farmer's market...

       To make our crates look full without spending too much money on clay, we have crafted "display lids" for our corn and peas. In addition to these lids, loose peas are piled on top of the bushel lid so that the dolls may take some home with them during play. Like wise, we also made loose cobs to arrange on top of the large display lid made for our crate of corn.

Finished corn on the cob crate lid, from the side and overhead photos.

Finished bushel of peas toy.

Supply List:

• white school glue
• corrugated cardboard
• masking tape
• Sculpey oven bake clay
• vegetable mold
• acrylic paints
• ribbon
• brown paper bag
• wooden craft sticks
• I used an AMACO vegetable mold for this craft
  

More links to corn and peas:

• The corn lullaby, paper-cut chain template and more...
• The corn husk dolly
• peas in our miniature vegetable salads
• How to make single servings of doll foods...

Left a new lid is made for the bushel container. I have chosen to mold peas for this one. Center, here
you can see the crates and bushels with new lids having sculpted parts. Right, the new lid for our doll
 crate displays half cobs pasted to it's top. See also the positioning of the ribbons on either end of
these new lids, so that they may easily be lifted off the crates and loose clay veggies stored inside.

 

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut a cardboard shelf, to fit just inside the crate's opening. 
2. Cut from the cardboard or wooden craft sticks a narrow bracket to adhere with glue and tape 1/2inch from the opening of your selected crate. The bushel's bracket was made from a cardboard tube.
3. Now fit the shelves into the crate and bushel containers. You may need to trim the new cardboard shelves a little in order to do this. The shelves should balance on top of the brackets neat and snug, allowing for there to be room for storage beneath it. 
4. Finish the interior of the crate using layers of paper and glue, a decoupage method. After this dries you will use it to store individual pieces that are represented on the top of the crates 'display lid.' 
5. Cover the shelves with masking tape. (both sides)
6. Glue small loops of the ribbon to opposite sides of new shelves and reinforce with tape. It is necessary to include these at either side of the shelves so that these may be easily removed to access the inside of each crate and bushel.
7. Decoupage the underside of the new shelves.
8. Now mold enough peas and corn cobs to cover the shelves. 
9. Bake these molded vegetables.
10. Glue the pieces to the top of the new shelves. These shelves will make your crates and bushels appear full.
11. Paint the lids to look just like real corn cobs and peas.
12. Now mold extra vegetables and paint these to pile on top of the shelves. These are the loose veggies that your dolls may pay for and carry home. 
13. While your market is stored away, put the loose veggies in small bags and store these inside the crate and/or bushel.

Left, bushel basket being lined with layers of brown paper. This will strengthen the container. Right,
 see here I have molded the loose peas in green clay in order to show how these are simply piled on
 top of the lid to make the bushel appear fuller than it is.

Left, see the corn on the cob loose parts stacked on top of the lid so that the dolls may pretend to
 purchase them and carry these home. Right, more of the same.

Craft Fashionable Doll Flip-Flops!

       The key to understanding just 'how' a doll's shoe is made is to think about how it made from the inside out. You build a shoe by assembling it's inner parts first, then working your way to the outside parts last.

       Flip-flops are much simpler shoes to put together compared to boots or high heels. In America, it can get very hot during the months of June, July, August and September. So, these are the kind of shoes many folks wear during those months if they are not at work. Children love flip-flops so it only stands to reason that they would want to dress their dolls the same way.

       With flip-flops, you don't wear socks! These shoes slip quickly on the feet to guard them from burns and cuts but they can just as easily slip off for those impulsive dips into a swimming pool, river, lake etc... Most of these kinds of shoes are inexpensive and are characteristically playfully decorative for girls or women. Little boys and men traditionally wear more sporty versions of flip-flops.

The finished flip-flops shown above are made from paper.
Each pair has a different theme: red paisleys, beach 
combing flip-flops and a cool spring blue floral
theme for our third example. Each of these 
flip-flops goes with a different doll's outfit.

Supply List:

• decorative scrapbook papers
• foam sheets for souls of flip flops
• trims: buttons, ribbon, sea shells
• hot glue gun and hot glue
• tacky craft glue
• doll - to measure her feet
• light weight cardboard
  

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Trace around your either your doll's foot or shoe to make a pattern for the interior of the doll's flip-flop first. Cut this tracing from light weight cardboard.
2. Glue these cardboard patterns to the backside of decorative paper. Cut this paper a little larger than the cardboard patterns so that you can clip around the edges and then paste them around the edges of the cardboard templates. (see photos)
3. Next, cut a wide band (from cardboard) to hold the flip-flop onto the doll's feet. Check to see that the band will work for the shoe by wrapping it around the top of her foot. There needs to be enough length to glue to the underside of the cardboard inner shoe. 
4. Cover this band with paper and white glue.
5. Attach the band using both tacky glue and masking tape to hold it in place. 
6. Now trace around the the flip-flops to mark the craft foam sheet with a pencil. 
7. Cut out the foam soles and hot glue these onto the bottom of the shoes.
8. Cut long, narrow strips of foam to hot glue along the edges of the the flip-flops. This will cover up uneven surfaces and make the flip-flops look clean and professionally made.
9. Hot glue trims to the tops of the flip-flops to give them unique fashionable looks. I attached blue buttons and ribbon to the floral blue pair, black bows to the red paisley pair and tiny sea shells to the beach themed pair of shoes.

Left cardboard cut-outs drawn from our doll's favorite slippers. Center, see the paper is a little larger
 than the cut-outs so that I can wrap it around the edges using white school glue. Right, the inside of 
our doll's paisley flip flops are covered.

Left, I check to make sure the cardboard band fits my dolls foot. Center, cover the bands with paper.
Right, now the band is attached to the underside of the covered cardboard flip-flop template.

Left, see the soles of the flip-flops are cut from a black craft foam sheet. I used white craft foam
for the other two pairs seen on the right. 

See the same kind of pattern as a house slipper here, only these are covered with fur...

Craft visors for dolls to wear in the summer sun...

Doll wears a star covered visor to keep
the sun out of her eyes at doll camp.

       My version of this popular doll craft is made from recycled materials and decorative papers. The example shown, just right, has a star patterned paper on the outside of the visor and a yellow solid paper on the underside of the visor.

Supply List:

• paper covered wire 
• white school glue
• cardboard
• masking tape
• Mod Podge
• fun summer papers
• recycled cereal box

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Fit the paper wire to your favorite doll's head and twist the ends together to keep it the exact size it needs to be. Paper covered wires are easy to find in grocery stores; these are usually wrapped around lettuce leaf heads.
2. Cover this paper wrapped wire with masking tape.
3. Draw a small half arc shape on top of light weight cardboard, cut it out and tape it to the paper wire. You may need to reshape the wire on the doll's head as you proceed in order to keep it shaped properly.
4. One the visor looks the way you like, see photo, cover it with decorative paper and white school glue.
5. Mod Podge the final visor, let dry and position it onto your doll's head to keep the sun out of her eyes!

Left, measuring the doll's head using the wire, twisted in 
place. Center, making a pattern by tracing both the 
inside and out of the wire shaped headband. Right,
paper template and copy of it in cardboard.

 

Left and next, see how the paper visor will look on my doll's head. Center and right, the finished
paper visor on top and underneath covered with decorative papers.

More Ways to Fashion Your Doll's Hair:

• Learn to Craft a Doll's Flower Crown
• Make scrunchies for your doll's hair
• Sew wide velour doll headbands
• Rainbow hair extensions for Barbie

Craft Doll Camp Kazoos

These doll sized camp kazoos are very tiny, see photo
on the right to get the idea of size compared with the
doll's hand. 

       The kazoo was invented in 1840, it was most likely based upon a modern interpretation of an African instrument called a mirliton.

       Real kazoos are played by humming into the wider end of it. The sound of the humming vibrates off of a thin membrane stretched over the larger internal hole.

Supply List:

• light weight cardboard
• colorful paper to cover the kazoo body
• pencil to wrap the kazoo turret around
• masking tape - for resonating membrane
• tacky white craft glue

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut the tiny kazoo tube from light weight cardboard. It should be no larger than an inch long for your 18'' American Girl Dolls. The lengths should be cut in a slight ''V'' shape sot that when the tube is rolled, one end is slightly narrower than the other.
2. Glue the long ends together using tacky craft glue when shaping the instrument. You can stick a bit of masking tape around the tube to make sure it drys in place correctly.
3. Cover the kazoo with colorful paper. Tuck in any paper that is too long into either end of the tube using a tiny tool like a toothpick.
4. Cut long narrow lengths of the same decorative paper into a thin strip.
5. Squeeze a little white glue down the length of this strip of paper and smooth it out.
6. Carefully wrap the strip of paper around the end of a pencil on top of it's self to form the turret. Gently remove this little piece from the pencil and press it on top of a piece of masking tape. 
7. The masking tape imitates the membrane part of the kazoo. Cut off the tape outside of the turret so that you only see it on the inside. Let dry.
8. Attach the tiny turret to the top of the kazoo, closer to the end of the wider opening, using hot glue. See photos below for this position.

Far left, the cut cardboard piece for the body of the kazoo. Next, the tubes covered in colorful papers
of red, blue and yellow. Center the turret part of the kazoo pressed into masking tape. Trim off
the outsides. Right, the turrets are glued in place. The 'decorative' marks for tiny holed beneath
may be made with a black marker. These hold are not real in an actual kazoo, but sometimes
they are implied to give the tiny instrument more interest on it's surface.

More Kazoo Music Video:

• ''I Just Wanna Play'' by Molly Whuppie
• Top 10 sounds you can try on your Kazoo
• How to replace the membrane on a Kazoo
• Why the Kazoo is America's Secret Musical Weapon

Make Easy Camp Sit-Upons for Your Dolls

See our dolls getting ready to relax at the park on their sit-upons. 

        To make a doll sized sit-upon you will need: bubble wrap, sturdy ribbon or chord, masking tape, scotch tape, white school glue and Mod Podge.
       Sit-upons are waterproof mats used to keep the place you sit, either directly upon the grass or even upon a wet lawn chair, clean and dry.
       Students can make a sit-upon for their dolls from supplies easily found around the house. This is also an easy camp craft for dolls, for there is no telling just where they will need to sit down outside during a camp retreat. Although they don't feel the cold and damp the way people do, they certainly might wish to keep their clothes clean of dirt and grime.

Left, Bubble wrap comes in two different sizes, either one is fine for this craft, but the smaller the
 bubble wrap, the better. Center, fold 10''x12'' bubble wrap in half, long wise. Use masking tape to
hold the 11'' ribbon handle in place. Right, fold the lower half up, over the ribbon ends that are
taped to shape the sit-upon's handle.

      

Left, use masking tape to seal off the side and top folded panel of the sit-upon. Center, cover the
 remaining bubble wrap entirely. This will help to adhere the decorative paper to it's surface. Right,
 use white school glue to apply decorative paper and then Mod Podge the outside surfaces. If you
have slick paper instead, you may only need to tape the open outside edges, front to back, using
Scotch tape. Above the sit-upon sample with Smilies and rainbows is slick and wrapped using
see-through tape. The sit-upon with larger Smilies is tissue paper that is glued directly onto
the masked surface using white school glue. This is finished lastly with Mod Podge.

 

 

More Doll Camp Crafts Here and Here

DIY Wedding Cakes for Your 18'' Doll Bakery

       In order to make these doll wedding cakes you will need to cut, glue and stack three small cardboard 'drum' shapes in graduating sizes. Wedding cakes can made to be as fancy or plain as your doll prefers!

The finished, doll-sized, 3 tier wedding
 cakes for 18'' doll bakery will look
lovely in the Blaire Wilson's doll 
events collection.

Supply List:

• masking tape
• cardboard
• tacky white craft glue
• circular templates
• paper mache pulp
• trims: beads, buttons, rick-rack etc...
• acrylic paints
• hot glue gun and hot glue
• nail
• Mod Podge
• Sculpey
• oven bake clay press molds
• transparent glitter
• many toilet paper rolls/cardboard tubes

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut three circles: large, medium and small from a sturdy cardboard. 
2. Cut to fit, recycled toilet paper tubes around the edges of each circle, using tacky glue and masking tape to secure the attached sides. Each of these drum shaped, faux cakes needs to be approximately the same height, but not the same size.
3. Stack these on top of each other large to small using tacky glue and let them dry.
4. Cover all of the surfaces with masking tape.
5. Shape the fancy scroll work using press molds and Sculpey. 
6. Remove the shapes from the molds, trim and bake according to instructions on the product box.
7. Hot glue the scroll clay pieces to the parts of the masked cakes you would like to decorate with these.
8. Mix together paper mache pulp according to the instructions included on the product bag.
9. Spread this evenly on the outside surface of your cakes using your finger tips and a little bit of water to make it smooth. Let dry, this may take time. Set the pieces in the sunshine to help.
10. Add color to each cake using acrylic paints.
11. Smear glue over surface and add glitter. (optional)
12. Glue on any additional trims if you like.
13. Use a nail to poke a hole in the top of the cake to insert clay or floral trims. Use hot glue and hot glue gun to make these kinds of attachments.
14. Mod Podge the surfaces when these are finished.

Step-by-Step process of making a traditional white wedding cake,
trimmed with roses and white icing.

Step-by-step process of crafting a popular pink wedding cake.

Make this trendy chocolate cake for your doll's wedding. Doesn't it look delicious?

Doll Wedding Day:

• The Doll Wedding by Lena Miller
• A Doll's Wedding
• The Blue Dolly's Wedding Party

How to make a paper monkey stick puppet...

My monkey puppet is very springy and easy to animate for beginning puppet play.

 

       To make an old-fashioned monkey stick puppet you will need: a wooden chip stick, colorful paper, colored pencils, white school glue an cardboard. I've included a pattern of my own below that school children may use for puppet theater activity, display or performance.

My monkey puppet is a chimp.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Print out my pattern on your home computer or at school. Cut it out to trace around on top of either construction papers or decorative scrapbook papers. These puppet printables are made by me for young students to use freely.
2. To make your monkey puppets legs and arms, cut long narrow strips of construction paper approximately 1/2 inch wide and accordion fold these. Set them aside.
3. Draw around the pattern pieces for the hat and body on top of patterned scrapbook papers. 
4. Then glue the hat and body to cardboard and cut them out again.
5. Glue the arms and legs in their correct locations.
6. Now trace around the head of the monkey on top of dark brown paper and cut this out.
7. Cut out the ear and inner face pattern, trace around a pale tan paper, and cut it out. Glue in place according to my photos on top of the brown head. Cut out two ear shapes for the monkey from that same tan paper if you like, I didn't include these on the pattern but you can shape them into small "U" cuts and paste them in place by yourself, I'm sure!
   
8. Cut out the bow tie from any color of paper that compliments your own patterned body and hat.
9. Glue the bow tie in place.
10. Glue the pom poms on to the hat and let these dry.
11. Now color the chimpanzee's facial features using colored pencils. You may copy my example from above if you like or look up pictures of monkeys in your library to see how you would color the features.
12. Draw more details with a black permanent marker on the bow tie.
13. Trace around the hands/feet (same) of the monkey (pattern) on top of brown paper, cut these out and glue them to the end of the arms and legs.
    
14. Take one chopstick and glue this to the back of your monkey puppet between it's legs. Use masking tape to reinforce the chopstick. Let dry.
15. Cover the cardboard on the back with additional decorative papers covering the stick part of the puppet as well.
16. Use the circle template included with the pattern to make a monkey tail. Draw around it on top of brown construction paper. Cut out a spiral shaped tail and glue it's inner tip to the back of the puppet near the bottom. (see photo above)
    

Photo from Hamilton,
Ontario Canada.

       Performing monkeys are a thing of the past. Once the companions of street performers, organ grinders and accordion players, monkeys dressed like our stick puppet above are no longer commonly seen in public or on the streets.      

       Just right, an organ grinder photographed with his pet (Capuchin) monkey from 1892. Monkeys in the states were often only owned by immigrant street musicians who would dress them in 'band leader' costumes. These monkeys would be seen to 'command' the 'performance' of the human musician, and then gather the tips from the larger child audience on the street.

       Children in the U. S. are particularly enamored by monkeys because they were not, and still are not, a common animal species to our climate. The novelty of seeing one of these animated creatures in person, depends upon a child's unique visit to a circus or a zoo. Although it is not illegal to own pet monkeys in many of the states, it is considered politically incorrect to take one of these species from their natural habitats by the majority of people in this country.

• Making a living as an organ grinder
• The monkey and the organ grinder from 1955
• Charlie Chimp symbol banging monkey toy demo - old circus culture
• Rescuing monkeys from captivity is a tricky business indeed...

More Monkey Puppets & Toys: some free, some not...

• Sock monkey museum in Long Grove, Illinois
• For old-fashioned captive monkey puppets - Traditional Capuchin Monkey Puppet and Custom made Czech puppets 
• Art Workshops from the AVAM - make sock monkeys
• Recycling your old socks into dolls
• Miniature sock dolls for your 18'' dolls

Monkey pattern for the stick puppet shown above.

Host A Best Baby Doll Party!

       If your little person is celebrating their birthday or even if they just need an excuse to have a doll party with friends, they are sure to love the idea of having a doll baby beauty contest. But why stop with just a contest? Why not have all of the fun games/activities associated with a real baby shower? Below are our ideas for a unique party plan you can organize and play at with all of those friends and classmates who love baby dolls just as much as you do!

The Contest Rules & Awards: As with most of our successful parties for children, I suggest that you create ribbon awards, one per guest, with different themes or characteristics. In this way, every guest goes home happy because every submitted baby doll is appreciated for something special. Below are just a few contest ribbon ideas for baby dolls. 

 

Make Ribbon Awards for . . . 

1. The prettiest baby doll
2. The most fashionable baby doll
3. The baby doll with the chubbiest cheeks
4. The baby doll most likely to sleep through the night
5. The baby doll with the best name
6. The baby doll with the cutest feet
7. The best loved baby doll
8. The baby doll that cries the most etc...
   

The Treats and Sweets: YouTube Video 

• Great baby shower treats from WFSB 3 can be made for a baby doll's party for little girls.
• Baby shower dessert decorating ideas: baby cupcake rattles , baby faces, baby carrier cake (pink), baby carrier cake (blue), baby toppers for cakes, fondant baby shoes

The Party Favors: Tiny plastic strollers filled with candy tarts, gummies or M&Ms. These strollers come in blue and pink usually.

The baby doll invitation for a ''shower'' only, in yellow.

 

The baby doll invitation for a Birthday themed doll
shower, in yellow.

Fun and Games

Sculpt Play-Dough Babies: Have enough play dough (recipe) for each guest to sculpt into a pretend baby. Give guests lacy trims to diaper their baby, an artificial flower for the baby's headband and a small plastic bottle for the clay baby's mouth. (You can purchase these objects at a party store or dollar store.)

Guess What Is In The Bag: Use white or decorative bags to conceal easy to identify baby items in the bag. Each guest may squeeze and shake the bag but not open or tear it, in order to identify what is inside. If they guess correctly, they get to keep the prize inside. 

Bobbing For Pacifiers: This is played in the same way that kids 'bob for apples' at a Fall themed party. Acquire a large tub or basin, fill it with water and then float many plastic pacifiers on the water surface. Each guest should then try to pull a pacifier from the water using their mouth only. Provide ample towels for this game. Time it and award the quickest withdrawal. You will need a stop watch to judge the timing.

Guess the baby food flavors: Line up real baby food jars without labels across a counter. Number each jar with permanent ink marker and write a secret answer sheet that the hostess can keep with the correct corresponding labels and numbers. Give each guest a numbered card where they can guess the baby food flavors. The guest with the most correct answers wins a prize. You might time the guess work to make this game a little harder. Make sure each guest dips up a food sample onto a paper plate before tasting so that the baby food doesn't get contaminated during the game.

Fill A Plastic Baby Bottle: Fill the plastic baby bottle with a favorite/popular small candy. Have your guests guess how many pieces of it are inside and write that number beside their name on a list. The guest who is the closest in guessing the number of candies wins the bottle of candy!

Prize Ideas For The Hostess To Give: 

• A 'disappearing milk' baby doll bottle
• A tub and toys from Dollar Store
• A very special prize would be a new baby doll wrapped up in nursery themed papers. The hostess may reserve this prize for the most difficult game played successfully.
• Make baby clothing cupcakes using doll clothes - here are examples of real baby clothing cupcakes from Andrea O'Sullivan.
• Baby doll clothing - easy handmade pieces in our sewing collection
• Sand toys for a baby doll: bucket, shovel, plastic molds

Easy baby doll crafts for the guests to make at the party:

• Coloring sheets for baby doll lovers from our big collection, The Doll Coloring Book

Old-Fashioned Baby Tunes for Your Party:

• ''Baby Face'' by Nicole Hulett and Art Mooney's version here.
• ''Baby Mine'' official audio from Dumbo Disney film and ''Baby Mine'' song by husband-wife duo called The Hound + The Fox
• ''Be My Baby'' by The Ronettes

Baby Doll Play Videos and Popular Baby Care Videos: For guest who are waiting to be picked up to go home or who may have arrived before you are ready to begin the festivities, here are few viewing suggestions to help with timing.

• See just who are the fastest crawling babies on the internet? Watch the Baby crawl contest  and The Diaper Derby Champion 
• Jessica Martinez brings home a robot baby . . . and parenting and child development in high school and very brave teens are parents for a day!
• Babysitters Videos: a baby-sitters bag, and Diaper changing the easy way by the Babysitter Boss

The baby doll invitation for a ''shower'' only. Print the greyscale
 version on pink or blue paper to compliment those colors
if your little one prefers it.

The baby doll invitation for a Birthday themed doll shower. Print this
 greyscale version on pink or blue paper to go with a
traditional color scheme if you like.

Color A Paper Doll High Chair

Description of Coloring Page: a paper baby doll's high chair, vintage wooden high chair, Cut along the dotted lines to slip a paper doll baby into the seat behind the feeding tray.

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Make my caterpillar stick puppet...

Left, how I decorated the sticks. Center, the head detail of the caterpillar puppet. Right, the finished
 caterpillar stick puppet. Design by kathy grimm 2024

 

        To make a caterpillar stick puppet like mine you will need: large to small colorful pom poms, dental floss and needle, hot glue gun and hot glue, silk flowers, green acrylic paint, masking tape, white beads or buttons for it's eyes, permanent ink marker, one colorful chenille stem for the antenna, wire and two chopsticks.
       The sticks may be moved about to animate the worm as though it is both crawling and eating the flowering buds beneath it.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. First line up the pom poms in the order you prefer small to large prior to stringing them together. 
2. Thread a large-eyed needle with dental floss and then string the pom poms together to form the caterpillar's body. End with the largest pom pom that will be the caterpillar's head.
3. You can also reinforce the body with a bit of hot glue between each pom pom.
4. Now twist a small length of wire 1-2 inches around a pencil and clip off. Sew this loop to the end of the end pom pom of the caterpillar. Do it again and sew the second loop to the lower part of the caterpillar's head, where the mouth would be. Use hot glue to further attach these loops firmly into all of the fluff of the pom poms.
5. Hot glue the white buttons or beads for the eyes in place. Use a permanent black ink marker to draw black pupils on the buttons.
6. Cut 1 inch short chenille stem lengths for the antenna and hot glue these on top of the caterpillar's head. Hot glue small pom poms on these antenna tips.
7. To attach sticks for your puppet . . . twist a three inch length of wire to the pointy tip ends of each chopstick along with white school glue. Wrap masking tape around these ends and sticks to adhere them in place while white glue is drying.
8. Insert each wire through and around the wire loops on each end of the caterpillar and then wrap them shut onto the chopsticks.
   
9. Paint the chopsticks green.
10. Wrap the chopsticks with additional decorative wire and silk flowers. Use hot glue to keep these in place. Leave enough of each chopstick undecorated near the bottoms so that the puppet may be manipulated easily. see photo above.

More About Caterpillars: 

• "Life Again'' children's Bible message
• Craft a Very Hungry Caterpillar 
• Make a pom-pom caterpillar SWAPS for scout camp
  

How to sew bumper pads for a baby doll's crib...

I discovered and purchased this rare doll crib from resale. I have no idea who manufactured it. It
is made using light weight plastic and paper fiber composite, although it looks just like wood. It is
 the perfect size for an American Girl Doll nursery! (measuring 9'' in length, 5 inches in width
and 7 and a 1/2 inches in height) The photo above is the finished result after the mattress, bumper
pad and tiny pillow are finished.

What the doll crib looked like before adding 
linens to it.

       Discovering a crib like this one in the size that I have is not an easy task! So I suppose that I will need to make it a future craft for this blog sometime in the future...

       For now I will finish this one for our American Girl Doll nursery.

Supply List:

• foam sheet for mattress to fit the interior of the doll crib
• approximately 1/2 yard of felt for the mattress cover and bumper pad (I chose a bumble bee print.)
• ribbon to coordinate with the fabric selection
• trim for the pillow
• cotton batting stuffing for the bumper pad and doll pillow
• ribbon tape measure
• 1'' foam padding for crib mattress

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Measure the interior of the crib from side to side for cutting the mattress to size and determining the length and width of the bumper pads. Our interior measurement is 8''x4 1/2''.
2. Cut the foam padding, 1'' wide, into a  8''x4 1/2'' piece.
3. Cover the foam mattress with two identical  8''x4 1/2'' plus a 1/4'' seam allowance and a long strip of same fabric for the sides of mattress measuring 26 inches in length and 1 1/2 inches wide. 
4. Sew all pieces right sides together leaving 1/4 inch seam and a three inch opening. 
5. Turn inside out and insert the foam mattress. Sew the opening shut with a whip stitch.
6. To make the bumper, cut two long strips of fabric measuring 26 inches.
7. Sew right sides together leaving an opening for stuffing.
8. Turn inside-out, right sides facing out, and stuff with filler. Do so without packing the tube too tight.
9. Turn in the end opening and finish the edges shut with a whip stitch.
10. Using a straight stitch measure 4 inches from one end and stitch a seam to form the first bumper pillow, make three pillows 2 1/2 inches each for the side bumper units. 
11. Then make the next side bumper pillow measuring 4 inches, followed by three more pillows for the corresponding side measuring 2 1/2 inches, three times. See photo below.
12. Where the two ends meet, you will need to tack on a ribbon on each end measuring four inches each.
13. Sew eight inch lengths of ribbons in the center of each to every place where the pillows are formed using a straight stitch, so that the ribbons may be threaded through the and around the bars of the crib to tie in a bow. In this way the stuffing of the bumper pads will be evenly distributed and the bumper made to look uniform and neat.
14. To make the pillow measure and cut two small rectangles, 3''x1'' with 1/4'' seam allowance. 
15. With right sides together sew around the pillow edges leaving an opening of 1/2 inch. 
16. Turn inside-out, stuff and whip stitch the opening shut.
17. Apply a rick-rack trim or lace to the edges of the tiny crib pillow.

Choose a delightful nursery print for this project. I selected bumble bees because it is a favorite
theme of my daughter. It is a flannel print. Above you cans see that I covered a piece of cut foam, 
 8''x4 1/2'' with the same print that I also used in the making of the bumper pads and pillow.

 

 

The full length of the bumper pad when stretched out. Making it one continuous piece it easiest.

 

Left the finished result and right, the tiny crib pillow with yellow rick-rack and bee motif.

More Cribs and Cradles for Your Dolls:

• Make a doll's cradle using a Quaker Oats Can
• Update a wooden doll's cradle for Barbie