Pom-pom pumpkins

With Halloween coming up, here’s a craft idea for you: a pom-pom pumpkin!

You’ll need scissors, orange wool, yellow or brown felt, and either a pompom maker, or two pieces of card (the side of a cereal box will do).

To make the pompom, which will be the body of the Pumpkin:

Either use your pompom maker, or cut two circles the same size out of a piece of card with a smaller hole in the centre large enough to pass a small ball of wool through.

1. Wrap the wool round the maker or your card by wrapping it round the outer edge, then passing it through the inside and continue until the entire circle of card is wrapped. Keep going until you cannot fit anymore wool through the centre.
2. With a pair of scissors cut round the centre line between the two pieces of card.
3. Tie your remaining wool tightly  round the middle between the two pieces of card to hold all the wool together.
4. Cut the card in from the edge to the centre hole (don’t cut your centre tie or the pompom will fall apart!) and pull it out, or just remove your pompom maker.

If you’ve never made a pompom before, there’s a good video tutorial of a very easy method at the bottom of the post.

To make the stalk:

1. Cut a rectangle out of the felt about the height of your pompom.
2. Roll it into a tube and tie it with wool.
3. Cut a circle out of the felt about half the width of the pompom.
4. Cut a hole in the middle large enough to put the tube through,
5. Slide the tube in just over halfway down to hold the tube closed.
6. Push the tube into the centre of your pompom, until it is securely held by the wool.
7. Adjust the circle at the top to rest on the wool.

This is the basic pumpkin. Now you can personalise it:

• Add an extra loop of wool or string tied round the centre so you can hang it.
• Use a pipecleaner for the stalk so you can add a hanging loop at the top.
• Get some beads or googly eyes to stick on it, or cut shapes from felt or black card to glue on the front (You’ll need a very thick pompom for this.)
• Or use Black felt, instead of yellow for the top, cut a circle and a cone and make your pumpkin wear a witch’s hat. You could even give it a pair of feet!

For an advanced option, you could make the pumpkin’s stripes by alternating brown wool with the orange in small stripes round your pom-pom.

How to make pompoms – And don’t forget to leave your comments below the video!