Stick Horse

 

            Today's Snack: Make yourself a big bowl of "hay" - break up some Shredded Wheat squares into a bowl. Pour on some milk and just a little sugar, and munch to your heart's content with a big glass of milk.

 

 

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Supplies:

 

One wooden dowel, ½" to 1" thick

(purchase in the lumber department at a hardware store;

have the child straddle the dowel and "gallop" a few feet to see if it is too long; if so, someone in the hardware store should be willing to cut it shorter for you)

 

One old men's work sock or soccer stocking

 

Yarn

 

Felt

 

Googly eyes

 

Rubber bands

 

Plastic bags for stuffing

 

Hot-glue gun

 

Permanent markers (optional)

 

 

Kids in this after-school program chose from black, brown, gray or white socks

to make their stick horses, with matching yarn and felt available.

 

 

One of the most beloved toys of childhood is also a great way to get some exercise. Make yourself a stick horse, and you can ride the "trails" wherever you can find them.

 

Here's a good adaptive re-use for those sacks that keep your newspaper dry. Be sure to keep these every day and recycle them for uses like this.

 

Start stuffing those newspaper sacks or other soft plastics into the sock. Stuff the sock as tightly as you can, to the heel. This will become the horse's head.

 

Stick one end of the dowel into the stuffing at the heel now, and firmly attach it with a thick rubber band.

 

Stuff some more plastic into the sock to form the neck. When it's as stuffed as you'd like, add a second rubber band at the bottom to hold the neck stuffing in place.

 

Now hot-glue the rest of your horse's features:

 

Eyes. Hot-glue googly eyes in place.

 

Ears. Cut out long triangles out of felt that matches your sock color. Hot-glue a crescent shape where the ear is going to go. Carefully bend in the corners of the felt ear so that it will stand up straight instead of flopping flat.

 

Nostrils. Cut out ovals in dark brown or black felt and add them to your horse's muzzle.

 

Forelock. Cut several strands of thick yarn about three or four inches in length, and hot-glue one end of each piece of yarn to a short strip of felt that is about a half-inch wide. Then hot-glue the felt between the ears so that the forelock hangs down in between the eyes.

 

Mane. Decide how long you want your horse's mane to be. Maybe 12"? Test the length by wrapping one long piece of yarn around a piece of cardboard or other object once. Will it produce a 12" strand? Then continue with the same long length of yarn by wrapping about 20 times, and then clip the loop so that you have about 20 strands of yarn all the same length. Cut out a long length of felt about a half-inch to an inch wide. Hot-glue one end of each piece of yarn in a long row onto that length of felt. When cool, then hot-glue the length of felt, containing the yarn mane, all along the back of the horse's head, from the ears down to where the sock meets the stick. You can always add more "mane" by hot-gluing additional individual pieces of yarn on top of the yarn you've already lined up.

 

Extra features. You can cut out felt shapes or use permanent markers to add a mouth, a blaze, splotches or other special markings on the horse's body.

 

Whoop--ee--ki--oh--ki--ay! Have a great time!