Cut a foam hand mit for your doll's school spirit!

Finished and ready for game night.

       When attending a sporting event, you can take a doll to cheer on your favorite team using the following hand mit. 

       Just wrap a bit of masking tape around the doll's hand to help her hold her own foam hand mit and your good to go!

Craft Supply:

• foam sheets in the colors of your team
• printable to trace around pattern (below)
• tacky white craft glue
• permanent ink marker
• Popsicle sticks
  
• cardboard scraps

 Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. First you will need a hand pattern with the pointing finger up, representing the ''#1.'' There is one below that I have drawn. Click on the photo and trace around the hand shape lightly with a pencil.
2. Cut the same shape from a scrap piece of cardboard.
3. Mount the shape to the end of a Popsicle stick using tacky white glue. Let dry.
4. Now glue this hand shape to a sheet of foam paper on one side first. Let dry and cut out the mounted mit.
5. Turn the hand mit over and repeat steps for the opposite side.
6. Take a permanent ink pen and draw the fingers, outline the edges and write ''Go Team'' on the wrist of the foam hand mit. Your doll can support her school team using the school colors in foam for this craft.

Left, cardboard cut-outs of number "1" hand signal for mit. Center, gluing the template onto
foam sheets. Right, a drawn pattern for the mit that students may copy/trace.

• Show more team spirit using pom-poms made for doll cheering!
• Make an 18'' doll sized football from felt...

How to make a doll sized football...

Our 18" male doll cradles our handmade, felt football between his hands.

 

        To craft a football for your 18" dolls, all you will need are: scrap brown felt, a cotton stuffing of some sort, a needle and matching brown thread, white embroidery floss and the free pattern I have included below. You may shrink or enlarge the pattern to fit the size proportions of both smaller or larger dolls as you need to. 

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut four identical felt pieces using the pattern above.
2. Sew, using a straight stitch, the eight sides together, leaving a small 1/2" opening.
3. Turn the felt football inside out through the opening.
4. Stuff the football with cotton stuffing.
5. Using a whip stitch and brown matching thread, close the 1/2" opening shut.
6. Thread an embroidery needle with white floss and stitch the simple ladder pattern along one of the eight seams to match what is normally seen on an actual football.

DIY a Doll's Megaphone

Finished cardboard megaphones from different angles, 3" in length.

        Your AG dolls can show their team spirit with these pretend megaphones. Cover them with papers matching your school colors if you'd like.

Supply List:

• flimsy cardboard (recycled cereal box)
  
• masking tape
• white school glue
• wire (the thin type that comes with bread bags from the market)
  
• decorative papers in school colors
  
• Mod Podge to apply to the surface to seal (optional)

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut out a megaphone shape similar to the one shown below from the flimsy cardboard. It's important to use light weight cardboard for this craft so that the mega phone will curl in on itself nicely. The tab and slit in the photo are shown where the curled megaphone should attach but these are optional.
2. Glue the funnel shape using white school glue and a piece of tape to hold it in place while the glue dries. 
3. Hold the megaphone up next to your doll's hand so that you can bend the wire about it to fit her hand perfectly. Then attach this bent wire to the cardboard megaphone with tape and glue.
4. Carefully cover the megaphone with masking tape to create a smooth surface.
5. Wrap the wire for the handle also with tape to make this sturdy.
   
6. Decoupage the entire piece with white glue and colorful papers. Use your own school colors if you'd like. You can also match the colors to a set of pom poms for doll cheerleaders.
   

Left, the cut shape for a megaphone trace and copy ours if you'd like. Center, tape the rolled
megaphone in place after dabbing on a bit of glue, this will hold it in place while it dries. Right,
make sure to bend the wire to fit your doll's hand and then tape it into place.

Left, use masking tape to secure all attachments. Right cover the cardboard megaphones with
masking tape prior to applying glue to the surfaces and then papering them. This will add
strength and a smoother surface finish to the megaphones.

More About Doll Megaphones:

• See also a more detailed, plastic megaphone that came with our Lottie doll, Meg.

DIY Simple Doll Cheerleader Pom-poms

Left, our Kirsten doll is posing for the camera with her red, white and blue sparkly pom-poms.
 These took just a few minutes to make. Right, her hand fits the handle just so.

       A pom-pom – also spelled pom-pon, pompom or pompon – is a decorative ball or tuft of fibrous material.

       The term may refer to large tufts used by cheerleaders, or a small, tighter ball attached to the top of a hat, also known as a bobble or toorie.

       Pom-poms may come in many colors, sizes, and varieties and are made from a wide array of materials, including wool, cotton, paper, plastic, thread, glitter and occasionally feathers. Pom-poms are shaken by cheerleaders, pom or dance teams, and sports fans during spectator sports.

       Most often, pom-poms are used in pairs (one in each hand), but this may vary with the particular requirements of the choreography of a dance or cheer. Pom-poms are shaken by cheerleaders and sports fans during spectator sports. Small decorative pom-poms may be attached to clothing; these are called toories or bobbles.

       Pom-poms are also waved by sports fans, primarily at college and high school sports events in the United States. These inexpensive, light-weight faux pom-poms, or rooter poms, typically come in team colors, are sometimes given away or sold to spectators at such events. Read more...

Left, I chose to make pom-poms for the dolls in red, white and blue because these are the school colors
at Trinity Church School. Right, see the chenille stem is beneath the garland that I have wrapped around
three of my fingers. Garland like mine is easy to purchase for only a dollar or less in after Christmas
sales. You might even find some that you can use among your family's old decorations in the attic!

       To make these sparkly red, white and blue pom-poms, you will only need a tinsel Christmas garland and one chenille stem for each pom-pom that you make!
       Lay a long chenille stem across your hand and wrap garland around your fingers a couple of times over the stem. Then clip off the excess garland and twist the stem around the garland in your hand to secure it from unraveling. Bend the wire to make a handle for your doll and snip off the excess pieces after securing the handles on each pom-pom.
       Now your dolls are ready for cheerleading practice and then it's off to the big game!

Left, here you can see that I've twisted the wire firmly, around the garland to hold it in place. Center,
a photo of the stem twisted into a handle. I still need to clip off the ends. Right, Kirsten doll is ready
for cheerleading practice.

More Ways to Craft Cheerleader Pom-Poms:

• How to make cheerleader pom-poms using tissue paper
• Crepe paper pom-pom tutorial
• American Girl cheerleading outfits over the years...