We’ve all seen grass heads and chia pets before, but have you ever made an animal grass head?
With only a little bit more effort than a regular grass head, the results are so worth it!
Last year, I became familiar with my sewing machine by making some animal bean bags and continued that friendship by making these DIY animal grass heads.
If you don’t have a sewing machine, don’t worry – you can easily sew your animal shapes by hand too. This is a perfect, simple animal craft activity for kids of all ages to enjoy.
How to make Animal Grass Heads
Materials:
- Recycled stockings
- A sewing machine or a needle and thread
- Soil (affiliate link)
- Grass seeds (affiliate link)
- Water
How to make Animal Grass heads
- Draw the animal shape on a stocking with felt pen (see shapes below).
- Sew or stitch around the shapes. Ensure you leave one end open.
- Cut the surrounding stocking away from the shape.
- Mix 1 cup of soil and 1 cup of grass seed.
- Put the seed and soil mixture into the stocking (see below for specific dinosaur grass head instructions).
- Sew up the open end of the stocking, or use a rubber band to seal the end.
- Soak the animals in water and keep it moist (not wet).
*Dinosaur instructions:
We filled the bottom half of the dinosaur with soil only (no seeds). To get the grass seed and soil mixture into the thin top layer (to make the spikes that line the back), we used a straw. Put the straw down the tube of stocking and fill it up by putting the soil and grass mixture in the straw. This was a great activity to build fine motor skills.
Growing the Grass heads
In less than three days, you’ll see the seeds start to germinate. The roots will come down first. Within 5- 6 days you’ll have a healthy head of grass hair on your animals and enough to start cutting your animal’s hair. Miss Possum loved cutting the dinosaur’s grass spikes!
Dinosaur grass head
Echidna grass head
Caterpillar grass head
We made a caterpillar, echidna, and dinosaur. I’m sure these would make a great porcupine, too! You could make any animal grass head you like. It’s such a fun activity. Why not get inventive and create your own?
What animal grass head or chia pet would you like to make?
You have impeccable timing – I was just thinking of getting a chia pet or two for my boys. This is so much better!
I had no idea what a Chia Pet was, so I had to google it. Wow, they are cute! To be honest, I kind of like ours better too. Glad I for you at the right time. I might have to tag Chia Pet in my post now huh?!
This is such an awesome idea for kids! I will definitely be incorporating this into one of our fun days!
Thanks so much Karina. I really appreciate that you took the time to comment! I hope they like it. It’s just lovely seeing the first grass blades shooting out of the animal.
Those are so stinkin cute! I totally want to try this in the spring!
Thanks Deborah. I’m sure they would love them! We had so much fun seeing the blades pop out of the stockings and complete the animals
The echidna is just adorable!
Thanks you. His my favourite too *grin*
These are so incredibly awesome! Dino Boy will be super excited to try these out!! Thanks so much for sharing, pinned 🙂
Thanks for Pinning Kelly. I’m sure Dino boy needs to make the dino grass head 🙂
Very, VERY cool 🙂
Kids – how do we make the shape of this animal?
– this is how seeds (plants) grow
– we need to responsibly water the plants to keep them alive
Lots of possible discussions and lots of fun. Thanks Penny 🙂
Thanks so much. I should have put those points in, shouldn’t I. I think I was so rushed to get this post done that I forgot to put the many learning opportunities in.
Ohhh this is so cool.
I havent done grass heads with Dimples yet. I will definitly have to give this one a go.
thanks for inspiring!
You’re welcome Renee. I hope Dimples loves them! 🙂
Adorable Pen! The echidna is my favorite.
How long do they last for?
Mine are still going strong, three weeks so far. I think you’ll need to cut the grass though or it will fall over
Absolutely sensational. I’ve pinned this.
I hope to make some when my little one is a touch bigger.
Thank you for the support Kate 🙂
This is so awesome Penny! Now I know what to do with my old stockings – my kids will love this!
I know! I recycle my stockings. I can’t believe I got three animals out of them. I could have got another animal if I had of tried!
Ohhhhh, the echidna is absolutely adorable!
Thank you Amie. It’s my favourite too 🙂
I love the echidna too! He is too too cute. I want one 🙂 ~ I’ll post a pic to your FB wall when we make it. Love him 🙂
That would be so wonderful, thank you Kate!
Oh my how cute and clever, love this.
Cutest idea ever!!! I can hardly wait to do stuff like this with my daughter 🙂
Just too cute Penny…why have we only ever done the boring grass head version lol!!! Can’t wait to try this out with the girls…they love their gardening so i know they will love this…your a genius woman!!
So cute! I’ve made grass heads at school quite a few times, but never made anything other than regular old heads. I’m going to give these animals a try.
Love that echidna.
Wonderful site with great ideas. Not only ru building a love of wildlife in ur kids, but also a love of family, imagination, motor skills, life, outdoors and fun. I did the same with my mum and now my toddlers. We must never underestimate what this quality time means to them.
Just so that you know, I’ve featured this post on this week’s Tuesday Tots 😀
I don’t understand the straw part, can you show picture of it? I want to make DOG for our PreK class, can I get some help pretty please with sugar on top?? 😀
Hi MamaDeenDeen,
I only wanted grass seeds in the top of the dinosaur (to make spikes). I sewed a small section up but the only way to get the seeds in was using a straw. If you’re making dog, all you’ll have to do is sew the shape together and then add a soil and seed mix. You shouldn’t need a straw unless there’s super small sections you need to fill. Does that make sense?
How did you do the eyes? Are they sewn on or did you paint them?
I used some recycled plastic and a permanent marker. You could just use googly eyes though. 🙂
These are adorable and my boys would go crazy over them, thanks for sharing!
Thank you for taking the time to comment Katie. I hope your boys love them as much as my girls do!