Handkerchief Dolls Craft

Here's an activity that I did with my girls at the end of July. I took all the pictures while we were doing it together, I just never got the time to post about it. 

My girls at the time were 3 years old and 5 years old. Both of them were able to do the activity and still sleep with their dolls. :) 

     This would be a great stuck-indoors-day activity. Or even a good sick-day activity since it gives the little ones something to do without getting themselves overtired. And then they have something to cuddle up with after.

Handkerchief Dolls

To get started:
- a handkerchief or square piece of fabric
- small styrofoam ball or tennis ball
- 3 or 5 rubber bands
- ribbon
- fabric paint and/or sharpies
- glue
- different colored yarns cut into pieces for hair


I let my girls pick out the handkerchiefs they liked best at AC Moore. They also got to pick out which ribbon they liked best. 
When we got home with all of our crafting goodies, the girls got set up at the table. Newspaper was put down to cover the table, each one got a rectangle of wax paper to work over, and all the materials were in the middle of the table to share. The girls were ready. :)

Fold the handkerchief in half and have your child place the ball inside. Position the ball so that it is at the center of the fold.
Secure a rubberband under the ball to create a head.

Help your child gather the fabric from each top corner to form arms and secure each with a rubberband. 

At this point Thing 1 stopped because she liked that her doll looked like she was wearing a dress. Thing 2 wanted to keep going and give her doll legs.
Together, gather the fabric at the remaining corners to form legs and secure each with a rubberband. 

The girls then took the sharpies to decorate their dolls. (You could also use fabric paint, but we aren't patient enough to give it time to dry. :) ) They gave them faces and Thing 1 decorated her doll's dress with a very pretty picture.

After the kids are done drawing, it's time to add hair. I gave them both a pile of yellow yarn and brown yarn (both of these colors were the girls' choice) that I had already cut. 

They each got a bottle of glue, too.

When the dolls have enough hair, it's time to let them dry while sitting on some wax paper. 

Once the hair is dry, let the kids add anything else they may have forgotten. My girls added some glitter glue to their dolls. :)
After everything was dry and finished, it was time for the final thing. The ribbon. Tie a piece of ribbon overtop each rubberband. 

Thing 2 picked a purple ribbon with white stars.

Thing 1 went with a soccer ribbon.

And voila! Your little one has made his/her very own doll. :)