Homemade Foxtail-type Toy

This is a fairly simple way to reuse an old tennis ball to make a fun and entertaining toy. If you've never played with a Foxtail, they are surprisingly fun. They're great for playing games like 500 and Flyer's Up, and dogs just love them. If you aren't the maker type, you can buy one here:

http://www.klutz.com/catalog/product/1208

...Or you could make one yourself!

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Step 1: What you'll need

An old tennis ball
Some scrap fabric (preferably lightweight nylon)
Sewing machine
Dental floss
Sewing needle
Needle-nose pliers (maybe)

friendlysinger says: Apr 1, 2012. 6:22 AM

This looks soooooooo cool! I'm definatly gonna make one!

lburke3 says: Jun 25, 2011. 5:22 AM

My Nanna helped me make one from an old sock and a tennis ball for our Border Collie when I was little... We just put the ball into the sock, tied a knot, and done! It's still going strong after 13 years and gets a good distance on it :) The no-sew version :D

Wicken says: Nov 26, 2010. 10:48 AM

Thanks for this! I have a Dane/Shepherd who loves to play fetch, but since *cough*thesamedog*cough* tore my rotator cuff on my throwing arm, I suck at it. I bet I could get this going, though. Awesome.

Brother_D says: Mar 31, 2009. 4:06 PM

Sorry for being dumb, but what do you do with this?

WhyHello in reply to Brother_DNov 22, 2010. 12:54 PM

I have a pit bull
and a husky
and a german shepard
and a puppy

yeah these are great X3

(fetch if u havent figured it out

notker in reply to Brother_DAug 10, 2009. 6:31 AM

you could use it also as a poi

idogis1 in reply to Brother_DApr 5, 2009. 7:07 PM

you spin it, let it fly, and watch your dog go crazy.

Kryptonite in reply to Brother_DMar 31, 2009. 4:33 PM

You get the very skinnny bit of material, spin it around like a sling, then let go to see it go flyyyyyyyyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. It goes really far and is really fun if you got a nice big oval to play on.

Brother_D in reply to KryptoniteApr 2, 2009. 6:42 AM

Oh, that's AWESOME. How can something so simple seem so fun?

Kryptonite in reply to Brother_DApr 12, 2009. 6:10 AM

Ahhh, 'tis a mystery... Although you're 100% right on that one :D

seamster (author) in reply to KryptoniteMar 31, 2009. 9:23 PM

Yep, that's how you do it. Step 2 has a little information on an especially fun game you can play with it.

Kryptonite in reply to seamsterApr 1, 2009. 7:57 PM

There's a certain technique for making it fly the furthest distance possible for your strength. If you swing round two or three times, side on to ~~what~~ where ever you want it to ~~hit~~ go, then for the last 1/2-1 turn spin it really fast and let go at about '10o'clock', if you're right handed, 2o'clock for left handers. If you spin really fast the whole time, it's rather inaccurate, and doesn't go as far as you would have hoped. Oh well, thanks for posting! They're great for dogs, and you don't have to touch a slobbered up ball either.

SWV1787 says: Dec 6, 2009. 6:30 AM

I just made one and have two more in the works... I tossed it about a bit last night and I cant wait to take it to the lake to play with.
I am also including it in a Christmas gift since our family agreed to hand make gifts for our Christmas gift exchange so keep an eye out for my Instructable on a huge toss game mash-up...

seamster (author) in reply to SWV1787Dec 6, 2009. 9:34 AM

Nice. One of these would make a great hand made gift...

Thanks for the comment!

eulaliaaaa! says: Oct 24, 2009. 9:33 PM

Great instructable by the way.

eulaliaaaa! says: Oct 24, 2009. 9:31 PM

This reminds me of these weapons that the bad guys used in a book in the Redwall series. They were called fire swingers. They wrapped a rock in grass and whatnot, tied it to a rope, soaked it in oil, and lit it up! The reason this 'ible reminded me of it was that they would swing it around and around and let go to light the place on fire, kind of like this, except you probably won't use these for lighting places on fire.

maxpower49 says: Apr 1, 2009. 4:25 PM

this is asome my friend had one a couple yaers ago and it rippen and we couldn't them in the stores so no i can make one YAY!!!!!

Jawsh says: Apr 1, 2009. 7:42 AM

awwww shweet! these are just like little kids practice poi! but i geuss you can throw them and make the look cool as well.

Lftndbt says: Mar 29, 2009. 9:55 PM

AWESOME!! the Intro picture deserves a "Feature" let alone the actually write-up. Well done, I am definitely making some of these!!

frollard in reply to LftndbtMar 30, 2009. 12:50 AM

I second that - perfect featureable!

I'd like to note that tennis balls are pressurized, so puncturing all the way to the center *could* be a bad thing, but in this case its just being used as 'weight' for foxtail games. If you want to retain a lot of the bounce of the tennis ball, make sure you only go partway into the rubber of the ball!

5* from me.

133

noahw in reply to frollardMar 31, 2009. 11:29 AM

Motion to feature passed!

Lftndbt in reply to noahwMar 31, 2009. 8:16 PM

LoL, very funny indeed. ;-) Some intro pictures just 'PoP!!' on the recent page.

cowscankill in reply to noahwMar 31, 2009. 1:11 PM

Yay! Noah comes to save the day! Totally off topic: My computer's internet is the best it has been in DAYS, and it's a severe thunderstorm right now!

seamster (author) in reply to frollardMar 30, 2009. 9:53 AM

Thank you! I ought to point out, when you stitch the tail to the tennis ball you don't want to try to sew into the rubber of the ball at all. You only want to grab a little bit of the felt with each stitch. If you feel your needle poke the rubber, just back off a bit and you'll be fine.

frollard in reply to seamsterMar 30, 2009. 3:39 PM

aha...it 'looks' a lot deeper than it is :D