Sparkle Craft: Dress-up Peg Dolls
In this week’s Martin & Sylvia: Saturdays! story, “Peg Doll Party”, Martin and Sylvia help Mama clean out the attic during their annual spring-cleaning. The mundane task of tidying up is turned into an adventure of wonder, nostalgia, and imagination when Martin and Sylvia find a box of old wooden peg dolls that Mama made and played with as a child. Inspired by the toys, Martin and Sylvia set out to make some peg dolls of their own, dreaming about recreating their family and friends in peg-doll form!
Making a peg doll family of your own is a lovely way to spend an afternoon (or two). With just a few wooden pegs and simple creative tools, you too can design and create your own dress-up peg dolls!
You Will Need
Wooden clothespins
Paint (preferably liquid watercolor or tempera)
Fabric scraps
Decorative supplies (pom poms, feathers, googly eyes, etc.)
Permanent marker
What To Do
Start by painting the clothespins. You can choose to paint on clothing, or just paint them for color and fun! Once all your pegs are painted, set them aside to dry.
While your peg dolls are drying, look through your fabric scraps and decide what your dolls will be wearing. To make a simple shirt, dress, or skirt, cut a square (or circle) of fabric. Fold the fabric in half and cut a small slit in the top – no more than ½ inch. Fold the fabric in the opposite direction and make a second perpendicular slit.
Once your dolls have dried, you can start dressing and decorating them. Glue on feathers or pom-poms, draw on faces, add yarn hair if you’d like, and dress up your peg dolls in bit of fabric. You can also attach your fabric-scrap clothes with twisty pipe cleaners as belts. Dress up the whole family of peg dolls if you’d like!
Explore More & Make Connections
Martin and Sylvia want to make peg doll representations of many of their friends and family, just as Mama did when she was young. How about you – do you want to make your peg dolls represent people you know, or imaginary people you’ve made up?
Martin and Sylvia found bottles and old spools that they planned on turning into peg animals – do you want to make any peg animals for your peg dolls? What will you use?
What toys did your grown-ups play with when they were young? Ask them to tell you and, if they can, show you some of their old toys!
About the Authors
Andrea Folsom
Andrea Folsom describes herself as a writer, editor, creative maker, and eternal optimist. She is passionate about learning and sharing new creative techniques, making beautiful spaces, and talking about the social-emotional benefits of creativity and art. She runs Crafting Connections - a website providing inspiration, practical advice, and projects for creative families - with her close friend Danielle Reiner.
Danielle Reiner
Danielle Reiner describes herself as a creative, a maker, and a mama. At the heart of her story is creativity, though that hasn’t always been the case. She rediscovered her deeply hidden creativity early in adulthood – with a ball of yarn and a couple of knitting needles – and hasn't stopped since. Danielle also runs Crafting Connections - a website providing inspiration, practical advice, and projects for creative families - with her close friend Andrea Folsom.
