My 10-year old is in a major horse phase right now. Lots of girls go through this…I think I did slightly, but I wasn’t as obsessed as she is. She wants to be a vet when she grows up. She reads books about horses (Misty of Chincoteague is an awesome place to start if you have a similarly obsessed pre-teen girl). She went horseback riding with the Girl Scouts last weekend and once she got over being up really really high off the ground, she loved it and has been talking about “her” horse ever since.
So when we tried some crafts and projects from this book: Horseplay!, she got really into it.
We made a horse pillow, which was a great craft for a girl her age. She doesn’t really sew much, and this project involves some really basic sewing, so it was a good way to introduce her to it without being too frustrating and complicated.
Our horse is, of course, blue and orange because we live in Denver.
Supplies:
- a horse stencil (ours was included in the book, but you could freehand a basic one)
- a white pillowcase
- felt
- yarn
- a large embroidery needle
- glue
- scissors
Instructions:
Trace your horse stencil onto the felt and cut it out. Lay it on the pillow, and sew the felt to the pillow along the mane area, leaving long loops in the front.
Glue the rest of the horse to the pillow. Snip the loops so that the yarn strands hang straight like a mane.
After my 10-year old and her little sister finished this project, I didn’t hear a peep out of them for another hour at least. They were busying themselves with the Horseplay! book — coloring a poster that was included, reading facts about horses, planning parties (the book includes super-cute cupcake toppers and suggestions for horse-themed parties). It really is a great book for kids her age.
For more kids’ activities and easy recipes, you can find Laura at Peace but not Quiet, and on facebook and Pinterest.
