Manda-Nijntje (Miffy Madarin Orange/raisins Treats)

This is my version of a popular kids treat: Manda-Nijntje!

Nijntje is the original Dutch name of the bunny know to the rest of the world as Miffy.

'A small mandarin' in Dutch ('Mandarijntje') rimes with 'Nijntje', thus the idea for the treat was born.

It is a healty snack / treat to give away on your birthday or at a Miffy themed party.

Let's get started!

Cautions!

If you use hot glue in this project the glue is (obviously) very hot! It will burn your fingers, even through the paper, if you are not careful or press down on glued surfaces.
If you use a hobby knife or a pair of scissors mind your fingers!

Attribution

Based on earlier work like http://www.gezondtrakteren.nl/recept/manda-nijntj...

Based on the Nijntje / Miffy character by Dick Bruna / Mercis bv: https://www.miffy.com / https://www.nijntje.nl

Supplies

For one Miffy mandarin/raisins treat you need:

Think coloured paper (200+ grams/m2), in any colour you like for the dress/body.
Think coloured paper (200+ grams/m2), in orange for the ears and hands.
Glue stick
Hot glue
A pair of scissors (or an hobby knife and cutting board)
Black permanent marker (Sharpy or similar)
A ruler and a pair of compasses (if you are drawing the parts by hand or if you need to scale them up)
One small firm mandarin orange, about 5cm in diameter (I think they taste better and are easier to use)
One box of treat raisins (or another small treat, the treat is optional)If you use a bigger mandarin orange, you may have to adjust the size of the body and/or ears for construction or aesthetics. See details in the next step.

Step 1: Print or Draw the Parts

Use the attached A5 PDF template to print and/or draw the parts needed. You can also trace a set of templates onto new paper for more than one Miffy.

If you are drawing the parts or need to scale the parts based on the size of your mandarin orange use the following. Scaling is based on a mandarin orange of about 5cm across:

The Miffy body is a semi circle, to be more exact: it is a quarter of a circle with an outside diameter of 14cm and an inside diameter of 8,5cm.
Use a pair of compasses or a ruler.
When you use an A5 sheet of paper put the sharp end of the compasses in the centre of the long side of the paper. This is the centre point of your semi circle.
Draw the 14 cm arc along the other long side of the paper. The arc should almost touch the long side of the paper and end on the small sides of the paper.
Keep the position of the sharp end on the centre point and draw the 8,5 cm arc.
From the center point draw two lines with a ruler across both arcs and with a right angle (90*) between them.
Use one side of the semi-circle to add a triangle to for gluing the body up later.

If your mandarin orange is 6,5 cm across (or even bigger) scale up the body and ears to match. Increase the big and small arcs distance from the centre point. Increase the distance of the big arc to the centre point more than the small arc for a higher body. The small arc forms a circle when the cone is created. The mandarin rests on top of that circle. Bigger mandarin also means bigger ears.

If you plan on making more than one Miffy treat: you can cut 2 bodies from one sheet of A5 paper of 4 bodies form one sheet of A4 paper. Make a template first and trace the template on an new sheet to make more parts.

The arms/sleeves of Miffy are based on two triangles stuck together (of more accurately a diamond shaped out of two equilateral triangles, all sides being 4cm. The arms have glue strips attached to the form, to have a surface to glue the arm and the body together.

The hands are small pieces of orange 2cm squared, with one side 'rounded of'.

The ears are 7cm long: 5cm for the ear itself, 2cm for the glue-part. they are 4cm totally and 1,7cm per ear with a small gap in between. The ears and the glue part are 'rounded of'.

Manda-Nijntje.pdf
Download

Step 2: Cut Out All the Parts

You need:

One body/dress semi-circle in a colour of your choice
Two arms/sleeves in the same colour as the body
Two hands in orange
One pair of ears in orange
One pair of feet in orange (optional, not in pictures)

Step 3: Assemble the Body

If you want add a message to the back of the body: this should be in the centre of the semi-circle. The outer rim of the semi-circle will be the base/bottom of the body so match up your text to go the right way up.

Form the cone of the body:

Place your thumbs and middle fingers under the paper and your index fingers above at one end of the semi-circle.
Move along the hole length of the semi-circle and apply light pressure every 0,5 cm to make the body form into a cone.
Repeat the process to make a tighter cone if needed.

Apply glue to (the outside surface of) the glue strip of the body and glue other end of the body on the glue strip. The glue strip should be hidden in the cone and the two sides of the semi-circle should line up in a neat seam.

If needed you can strengthen the cone by adding adhesive tape to the inside of the seam.

This seam is the 'front' of the dress of Miffy.

Glue the feet to the centre front base of the body (optional, not in pictures).

Step 4: Assemble Arms

Fold arms along folding line in half. Fold the glue-strips in the other direction.

Apply glue* to inside of the arm.

Glue hand into arm-fold and press the arm together.

Apply glue* to the glue-strips of the arms.

Glue arms to body (2x) near the top of the body. Place them at exact opposites or a bit more to the front. The seam of the body is the exact front.

* Use glue stick or hot glue. If you use hot glue for this step: mind your fingers! Paper transfers heat easily and you can burn your fingers on the hot glue when pressing the arm together!

Step 5: Assemble the Head

Draw an X for a mouth on the mandarin orange with black permanent marker.

Draw two oval eyes next to and slightly above the mouth.

Let the marker dry for a minute.

Fold the bunny ears along the folding line.

Apply glue to the glue strip of the bunny ears.

Glue the bunny ears to the centre top of the mandarin orange.

Add a rubber band to keep the ears on temporarily if you use glue stick. If you use hot glue keep the ears in place and let the glue cool down. Mind your fingers!