How to Make Hairy Friends

This project was inspired, in part, by my Margarine Tub Craft Challenge. Knowing my granddaughters were coming for a visit, I prepped the margarine tubs for them to have some fun with.! I showed them how to turn them into funny-faced friends they could even give haircuts to!

Not only are these hairy friends adorable, they are a great way for preschoolers to get some practice with scissors and work on their fine motor skills. The grass will keep growing, and your child can keep giving their hairy friends haircuts, as long as you remember to water it and give it some sunshine.

Supplies Needed to Make a Hairy Friend:

Margarine Tub (or something similar)
Primer
Paint
Google Eyes
Ribbon
Buttons
Rick-Rack
Glue
Potting Soil
Grass Seed

Tools Needed:

Paint Brush (if you use acrylic paint)
Scissors
Large Spoon or Small Plastic Cup
Spray Bottle

The first thing you need to do is make sure your margarine tub, or whatever container you use, is clean and dry. Take them outside and use spray on primer to prepare your bowls for the paint. I put parchment paper under my bowls, but you can use newspaper if you prefer.

Let the primer dry and then spray your bowl a fun color. I used the colors I had on hand, otherwise I would have made a pink one for my 3-year-old granddaughter! 🙂

It took several thin coats to get a nice coverage on the bowl. Once I was happy with how the paint looked and the paint was dry, I flipped the bowls over and painted the top edge of the inside because it would be seen a little bit.

Let the paint dry completely before you move to the next step. I actually did the painting myself and gave them several days to dry before my granddaughters came to my house. If you want the kids to paint the bowls, consider using a brush on acrylic paint. To get a nice shiny finish, spray it lightly with a clear acrylic sealer.

Now it was time for some fun! I gave my granddaughters some google eyes, buttons, rick-rack, and ribbon to use. I cut the pieces for them as they are 3 and 18 months. For this age, glue dots work wonderfully! I placed the glue dots on the back of each facial feature and they placed them on the margarine tub. Older kids could use craft glue or even a hot glue gun and glue sticks.

I think they turned out adorable, how about you?

Once the faces were done, I let them use a large spoon to fill the bowl with potting soil. This was messy, but they had a lot of fun. I then let them sprinkle a generous amount of grass seed on top of the soil. I then mixed it in just a tiny bit.

Keep the grass seed moist using a spray bottle with a fine mist and you should have some hair growing withing a week! Buy the fastest growing grass seed you can find! Let the kids water and check on the progress of the hair every day.

Once the hair gets a few inches long, give the kids a pair of scissors and let them give their friend a hair cut. Don’t worry about cutting it to short, in a matter of days the grass will grow long again.

My 3-year old granddaughter enjoyed practicing with the scissors. My 18-month-old granddaughter preferred to play with the button and google eyes and wasn’t too pleased when we glued them to the tub!