Funky Birds
designed by Rita Fleehart

Materials Needed
Pom Poms, color of your choice (1 1/2" and 2")
Felt to match or contrast (your choice)
7 mm wiggle eyes
Tacky Glue
String or ribbon to hang
Optional: 20 gauge black wire for legs and toes

Tools
Needle
Clothspins
Wire cutters and needle nose pliers
Nail

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Start with the smaller poms and the needle with either string or ribbon in it. Separate the fluff untill you can see the string in the center that holds it together, push the needle under the string and leave about 6 in. of hanging string in the pom. Tie ends of hanging string together. Flatten the fluff on one side of one of the larger poms, put a generous dollop of glue on the flat spot, glue smaller pom (string up) on larger pom. Set aside to dry.


2. Cut the tail, wings and beaks from felt. Click here for template. Photocopy and adjust to fit. It is best if the beak is a contrast color, but the wings and tail can be the same color. The beak is two triangles folded so the points stick out. The smaller one is inside the larger one. Hold them with a clothespin so folds are top and bottom (picture #1) and the straight ends extend out of the clothespin (picture #2). Put glue on the straight side and leave in the clothespin to dry.

3. Decide which is going to be the back of your bird and pull the fluff apart horizontally in the center back of the body. Put a blob of glue there and place the end of the tail on the glue. Put another blob of glue on top of the tail and press the fluff together to hold the tail in place. Do the same on each side with the wings.

4. Take the beak out of the clothespin. Pull the fluff apart vertically on the head and glue on the beak. Glue eyes on either side of the beak. This craft can be done by children up to this point and they can be hung from a mobile, or a tree or set in a nest. If you want to put legs on them, the legs probably need to be made by older kids or by adults.

5. Use an 18" length of wire, fold in center. Wrap around a nail and hold the two wires with pliers and turn the nail to twist the wire about a half inch of twisted wire. Remove nail. A half inch from the twist, wrap around the nail again and hold with pliers and turn nail to make second twist meet first twist. Repeat 2 more times to make 4 "toes" then twist the rest of the wires untill there is about 2 inches of leg. Make 2 of these for each bird.

6. Separate the fluff on the bottom of the bird and place a generous amount of glue on the end of each leg and place on the fluff. Then squeeze the fluff together to hold the legs in place.