Handmade Stuffed Toy

Making his own stuffed toys is a great way to teach a boy about engineering, design, planning and sequencing, problem solving, the value of one’s own effort, while developing creativity and patience…even if this means putting a needle in his hands.

We were browsing an animals’ atlas and FriBoy asked if we could make a lizard like the one he saw there, triggered by the fact that he has other stuffed toys which I had made for him when he was a baby and which he likes to play with because the look quirky (amateurish). 

Honestly, I was not very thrilled about this because he is not very patient and tends to loose interest quickly, but since we haven’t done such an activity together before,  I thought it could be a good opportunity for him to learn something new and put some effort into the things he wants to achieve.

So I asked him to draw the lizard, which is actually the common South American basilisk. He is infatuated with animals and thinks they have super powers,  he thought this guy was cool because he can walk on water. I hope he never looses this attitude because animals do have super powers, we need them on this planet like we need air.

He then cut out the pattern for each body part and I helped him transfer it to the fabric he had chosen. I cut the pieces, 2 for each body part. I turned them inside out and he helped me sew the edges (or I helped him :), he turned out to be incredibly patient).

We then turned each body part the right side out and stuffed it with a stuffing I had previously bought from Jumbo in Givisiez. We sewed arms, legs and head to the body on the wrong side, turned the animal right side out, stuffed it and sealed the remaining hole. 

By then his patience had left him and he didn’t want to sew the facial features, he drew them with a sharpie. But still it was an good exercise of perseverance.