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Happy Father's Day Craft!

Hairy Head

By Debby P- MK Robinson & City of Pitt June 15, 2011

My daughter came home from preschool with this adorable little creature.  She calls it a " grasshopper."   It is her father's day present to "Daddy."  He plans to put it on his desk at work to " green it up."  Isn't it cute?  Here's how you might make something similar!  It won't take long to get the grass seeds started, but get a jump on it so he's got LOADS of hair by the time your little ones are ready to "present" him to Daddy!

Directions:

Kids will adore watching Mr. Hairy Head grow and it simply takes a few household items to make this Father's Day craft happen!  This craft is great because the level of involvement can be determined by YOU!   

 

What you'll need:

• Panty hose, cut the ends off  into 1 foot "tubes"

• Grass seed

• Small rubber bands- optional

• Wiggle eyes

• Red fabric paint - optional

 • Black fabric paint- optional

• Sawdust

• Plastic bowl

• Pipe cleaners- optional

• Hot glue gun

• Water

 

How to make it:

1. Cut panty hose  into 12" or longer tubes. At one end simply tie a small knot, and turn the tube inside out.

2. At the bottom where the knot is place a small handful of grass seed.  Shake it as necessary to be sure it goes to the bottom.  .

3. Now it's time for SAWDUST!  Pack what will be the "head" of the  Mr. Hairy Head with handfuls of sawdust until the head is the size you'd like it to be.  Take a rubber band , or "gum band" as we say in Pittsburgh and tie up the neck  or tightly tie thepanty hose where the neck would be.

4. Shape the "head" with your hands and pull out a section for the nose.  You will use the small rubber bands for this step.   Tie the nose with small rubber band and shape the nose the way you want it to be shaped.  Or simply glue on a pom pom!  If you'd like to go a step further, pull a section out where his ear should go, and place another small rubber band there, place another rubber band on the opposite side for the other ear.


5. Next, hot glue wiggly eyes where his eyes should be. Use fabric paint if you'd like to paint the features. Use red for the mouth, black for eye lashes, and you can draw on a moustache, glasses or even eyebrows!

 

You also can stay "simple" and do some wiggly eyes and pom pom nose as shown in the example!  

6. When all of the glue and/or paint has dried, set "Hairy" in a plastic bowl filled with water.  This is to make sure he stays saturated so be sure to give him a good days worth of soak time!  Then "stand" him up in the bowl, or glass, and within a few weeks, he will have a head of hair.   We used an empty yogurt container that was painted.  

 

Give him Daddy features such as a tie or newspaper!  Perhaps some pipe cleaner glasses!  Kiddos can  trim "Hairy's" hair as it grows and then hand it off to Daddy or Grandpa to show off at the office! 

Tips:

Make sure the tail of the panty hose acts as a "wick" into the water, so that the water in drawn up into the head.