Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Making Swimming Noodle Ponies


Summer's off?  Bah!  There's always a school project of some kind happening.  This week I've been making stick ponies out of swimming noodles.  Its true that they look a little like seahorses instead of regular horses, but I think that just makes them even more special!

To make these ponies you'll need:
-a swimming noodle (the skinnier ones work best)
-twine, rope or your choice of something for the bridle that you can tie tightly
-felt (9 x 12 sheets work well)
-large wiggly eyes
-low temp glue gun and glue

Yes.  You can use a glue gun on the swimming noodle, but trust me you want it to be the low temp kind!

First tie the bend the noodle and tie the twine tightly around it.  If you want you can weave a pipe cleaner around it to add some color after you've tied it on.  I left a little bit of the twine hanging so that it looked line reins, but they are more for looks than for function of any kind.











Next turn the piece of felt long ways and cut a strip about an inch wide.  Cut the ends of it into points for the ears.  Cut the next strip (still looking at the felt long ways) at about 4 inches wide.  Next I folded this wide stripe and cut waves around the edges to create the mane.
Slide the long piece for the ears between the part of the noodle that is folded and pull them up firmly in place.  Glue the ears up.  Hot glue the mane and wiggly eyes in place.  Voila!  Swimming noodle pony!

We'll use these ponies in class for listening and movement activities.



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32 comments:

  1. Oh Tracy!! These are so cool! I'm going to make a few. Thanks so much for the idea!
    Carla Meiers

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  2. Oh Tracy! These are amazing! Thanks for the great idea.

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  3. So cute! I actually have been looking for some online for the same activities. I found some inflatable ones on oriental trading but I like yours MUCH better (and they are more cost effective).

    Thanks for the great idea!

    Cara
    http://miscellaneousme.wordpress.com

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  4. Oh cute! I have some cut in half that I used to make an octopus once (scale). I can't part with them as they come in handy for things like elephants' trunks. Now i have new things to do with them. Great for our circus theme! Thanks!

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  5. Love them! Great for our circus theme!

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  6. Tracy, this is SO clever! Thankls for sharing your ideas!

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  7. I LOVE this idea. Thanks, Tracy! I need seahorse dancers for John Jacobson and John Higgins' musical "Go Fish" and this will come in very handy. THANKS!! Isn't summer great?!

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  8. What great timing. Maybe they will occasionally go on sale in the waning days of summer.

    Sherrie

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  9. Maybe this is in time for some end of summer sales.

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  10. Sweeeeet! Thanks for the idea! The Wild Horseman is one of our UIL Music Memory pieces this year, and I was wondering how I would get stick horses. FYI - the skinny noodles are only a dollar at Wal Mart! Thanks, again!

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  11. Awesome! The Wild Horseman is one of our UIL pieces this year, and I was wondering how I was going to get stick horses. Thanks for the great idea!

    FYI - the skinny pool noodles are only a dollar at Wal-Mart! :)

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  12. I am a new follower and LOVE your blog! I've nominated you for an award! Check out the details on my blog, where I have also featured your blog!
    -Steph

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  13. How are you going to use these in your classroom?

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  14. LOVE! I've been looking for some stick horses of sorts for an activity I've been wanting to do in Kindergarten but haven't found any that don't cost an arm and a leg. You're brilliance will FINALLY let me use that activity! THANKS!

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  15. very cool idea!


    I linked to your tutorial on my blog - thanks for sharing!

    doro K.

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  17. the kids and i made these a couple of days ago... they are having a ball playing with them!

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  18. Wish I could pin this!

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    1. You should be able to pin in. Well...depending on what device you are on.

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  19. I used this for a 6-year-old's Knights and Princesses themed party this past weekend. What a hit! We put badge labels on each one that said: "I belong to..." so as our guests arrived, they each picked a pony to take home. We also used noodles to create swords with duck tape as the handles as well as cardboard shields. One father of a guest told me today that his daughter slept with her pony and her pony helped her open her presents (Her birthday party was the next day). We had races with the ponies and the kids just all ran through the house with their ponies - I suspect they all slept well that night. These take so little work to make but the children and parents were all appreciative because clearly someone thought this through. Great job!

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    1. What fun! Thanks for letting me know. I'm so glad to see that this crazy idea has been helpful! :-)

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  20. Mrs. King,

    I really like your crafts and would love to feature them on allfreekidscrafts.com. Feel free to browse our site to see if you're interested, and then contact me at jholtzman@primecp.com!

    Best,

    Jaclyn
    Editor at AllFreeKidsCrafts.com

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  21. Just made one for my daughter for her stick horse parade in kindergarten at our school on Friday.
    For the mane, I used fleece fabric. I cut & tied strips like the "tie blankets" down the back of the noodle. My daughter 's so excited- thanks for this great idea!

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  23. Great idea! Do you think that these would actually work in a pool? Looking for an idea for a horse themed pool party ( my Daughter's idea).. Maybe use another type of glue?

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    1. I think they would work in the pool. The hot glue would probably still stick but you would want to use something different for the mane. Maybe use craft foam or those plastic strips that you can find in the craft section that girls weave into bracelets? Instead of using googly eyes consider using paint pens to draw the eyes on. Good luck! It sounds like fun!

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  24. Thanks for the great idea! Just did this for my daughter's 5th birthday party. You can read about it on my blog - http://buzzcutsandponytails.com/. It was a huge hit!

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  25. Brilliant!!! My Grandkids will think I'm a genius!

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  26. These horses are so cute and very clever! I have included it in my What Can You Make with a Pool Noodle Round Up. If for any reason you would like me to exlude your project please let me know and I will take it out immediately.

    Thanks again for sharing!

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  27. We are making these for Vacation Bible School this year as a craft project!! Thank you for the adorable idea! :)

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  28. I made some pool noodle ponies for my girls and they loved them. I made them into characters from My Little Pony. Thank you so much! If you'd like to see pictures of the ponies I made check them out at http://funfilledflicks.com/?p=21.

    Thanks again for the wonderful idea!

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  29. To much fun. I'm making one for all my grandbabies.The only thing I will do differently is make the baby's shorter.

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