YuKonstruct put together "Make Your Own Monster" kits for one of our all-ages craft nights. Making monsters is fun for makers of all ages!

These kits, with everything you need to design and make a little felt monster, would be great for any kids camp, birthday party or just to have on hand for when you need a rainy day activity.

YuKonstruct is the first makerspace in Canada's north. Our mission is to provide access to shared space, quality tools, available expertise, and a collaborative environment to help makers build anything!

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

Collect the materials for your kits

This is what we used, feel free to throw in extra craft supplies:

buttons
pompoms
googly eyes
pipe cleaners
pieces of different coloured felt
needle and sewing thread
stuffing
fake fur

We wanted each kit to be unique, so we switched up the colours and materials slightly for each one.

Additional tools you may need to make the monsters (not included inside the kits):

scissors
hot glue gun
markers, crayons or pens

Step 2: Create an Instruction Sheet

For our instruction sheet, we suggested:

Design your monster (you can sketch out your design on the back of this sheet)
Fold the big piece of felt in half and cut out the shape of your monster so you have 2 pieces, a front and a back.
Use the other piece of felt to cut out details like claws or wings.
Sew the felt together, leaving a small opening.
Stuff your monster.
Sew closed the opening.
Add any fun details you want!

Step 3: Put Your Kit Together

Add all the necessary materials with the instructions into a small gift bag and close it with tape or ribbon.

It is suggested to have an example at your event to show people what is possible- so either make your own monster before the event or pull up some images to help inspire ideas.

Step 4: Have Fun Making Monsters!

Follow along with the directions on the instruction sheet.

Design your monster and then cut it out of felt.

Sew the pieces together, leaving an opening to add stuffing. Young makers may need help with this part. For a quick no-sew monster, you can also glue the pieces together.

Fill the monster with stuffing. A pencil or chopstick is handy for pushing the stuffing into little monster legs or tentacles.

Give your monster character by adding some fun details. Button freckles, pompom warts, pipecleaner antennas and big googly eyes are all great.

Have fun playing with your new monster friend!