Art Works! is a series of blog posts created by the staff at www.EscapadeDirect.com that offer children of all ages and abilities the opportunity for hands-on art activities that allow them to explore, discover, and express their individual creativity.

We encourage parents to join in on the activities, too, and create their own Art Works!

Art Works! Activity #12: Worry Dolls

Worry Dolls are traditionally made in Guatemala, but here is your chance to make your own!

A Worry Doll is a small, colorful doll that is placed under your pillow before you go to sleep to take your worries away. Worry Dolls were originally created for people (usually children) who could not sleep because they were worrying too much. Before you go to bed, you tell your worry to your doll (one worry per night), then place the doll under your pillow. During the night, your Worry Doll takes your worries away.

This activity sparks imaginations, stimulates creative thinking, and enhances spatial thinking skills… and it’s just plain fun!

What You Need:

• 2 Pipe Cleaners (length is determined by how large you want your doll to be, we recommend at least two 4″ long pipe cleaners)


• Colorful Embroidery Floss or Yarn


• 1 Button, any size (button determines the size of the doll’s head, we recommend at least a 1/2″ diameter button)


• Colorful Scraps of Material


• Glue


• Black Permanent Marker

What You Do:

• Thread a pipe cleaner through the holes of a button, as shown above in the first diagram. This forms the head of the Worry Doll.


• Twist the pipe cleaner to form the body of the doll, then stop twisting to form the legs. See the second diagram shown above.


• Twist a second piece of pipe cleaner just under the button to form the arms. See the third diagram shown above.


• Once you have the pipe cleaner form of your doll, wrap a skin-color embroidery floss tightly around the button to form the doll’s head. See the fourth diagram shown above. Make sure to completely cover the button with embroidery floss.


• Continue wrapping the skin-color embroidery floss onto the neck, then loosely out to the end of one arm. Wrap the floss tightly to form a hand, then loosely wrap the floss down the arm, around the body, then down the other arm to form another hand. When the second hand is formed, again, loosely wrap the floss around the arm, around the body and down one leg to form a foot. When the foot is formed, loosely wrap the floss back up the leg and down the other to form the other foot. Loosely wrap the floss back up the leg and cut at the body.


• Wrap colorful embroidery floss around the body of the doll to form the clothes. Place the beginning of the floss next to the end of the skin-colored floss, then wrap both ends under the colorful floss for the clothes – this secures the ends of the floss.


• Continue wrapping colorful embroidery floss around the body of the doll until you are happy with the results.


• If desired, glue colorful fabric scraps to the doll to form clothes.


• Use a permanent marker to draw eyes, a nose, and a mouth on your dolls head.


• Glue small scraps of embroidery floss to the head of the doll to form hair.

Variations:

• Worry Dolls are usually very small dolls, but you can make them any size you want using more than two pipe cleaners. You decide!

You Might Also Like:

Plaster Cloth – Make your own plaster models using this easy-to-use cloth!

Blank Book – Use this blank book as a journal to record the events of your days!

Share Your Art Works! Activities!
If you have an Art Works! project that you would like to share, email us a digital picture (or scan) of your project , and we will post it in our Kids Gallery. If you would like, include the artists first name, age, and your state. It’s fun for kids to see how other children interpreted the project!

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As always, encourage your children to come up with their own new ideas for art – and make sure to check back next week for another Art Works! activity in this series!

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