Make a Funny Dancing Character From Split Pins
Split pins are great for all sorts of crafting projects. But they are especially good when you want two pieces of card to swivel around each other.
Now this swivelling movement is good for lots of things including making arms and legs bend. So split pin animals are really super easy to make, endlessly creative, and just so funny when you start making up stories.
What We Need To Make Our Split Pin Animals
- Paper for making templates
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Thin card in various colours
- Glue
- Sharp craft knife (to be used by an adult)
- Split pins
Decide On What Split Pin Animals You Want To Make
You can make anything you like and with as many wobbly arms and legs as you like. We are going to make a teddy bear. But what about an elephant with a bendy trunk or a crazy octopus with eight wobbly legs.
The teddy is quite simple. If you look at the picture, we basically need 13 blobby round shapes for the legs, arms, ears and nose. Then a bigger blobby round shape for the head and finally the biggest blobby round shape for the body.
So the best idea is to draw a round shape on a piece of paper. Cut that paper out, and then use that as a template to trace around for all the other shapes.
Don't worry if things get a bit too wobbly or you miss a shape or two. It is all supposed to be fun and our teddy bear character will be even more funny if one of his legs is short than the other.
If you can't draw a round shape, maybe go to the kitchen and find round things of different sizes and just trace around them.
So remember, we need:
- 12 small round blob shapes in one colour for the legs, arms and ears
- 1 of the same small round blob shapes in a different colour for the nose
- A bigger blob shape for the head
- An even bigger blob shape for the body
Draw all those shapes on the correct card and cut them out.
Maybe Our Split Pin Animal Is A Bit Nosey
Remember we wanted one of the smaller shapes to be a different colour. This will be the teddy's nose. Use the glue and stick the nose on the head shape. Then take two more of the small shapes and stick them to the back of the head, with the shape sticking out half way. These will be the teddy's ears.
Let the glue dry.
Now lay out on the table the whole teddy body shape. Put all the pieces in roughly the right place for the teddy to have arms and legs.
This Split Pin Teddy Is Armless
Now use a pencil and mark where we will poke holes for all the split pins. We need to make sure that the joints overlap, so when we put the split pin in, we are pushing them through two layers of the card.
Now we need to make the holes. Ask an adult to help and use the craft knife to cut a little slot where you have marked your pencil points. Remember they have to cut through two layers at each point.
We don't need the holes to be too big.
Finishing Our Split Pin Animals
Now we are nearly finished. All we need to do now is push a split pin through each hole our adult created. Remember to go through two layers at each joint.
Spread the split pins open at the back to hold them in place. Keep going until you have added all the split pins.
Don't forget to add split pins for the eyes and nose. These ones are just for decoration.
Once finished, make up a funny song and help your split pin animals have their first dance.
What other animals can you make with split pins?
How about some crazy split pin bunnies. Just hanging around looking really surprised all the time.
Or decorate your bookshelf with a fun little split pin puppy.
Additional Split Pin Animal Ideas
Maybe make more split pin animals and join them together in a party garland. Have fun exploring your imagination and don't forget to show off your split pin creatures.
If you have made your own split pin animals, upload some picture to your own studio and comment below so we can follow your name.