Of all the crafts I did with my son when he was younger, the ones he liked the best were either those where he could get thoroughly messy, or those where the materials used meant he could create something that looked better than his own dexterity would allow at the time. It didn’t matter whether it was yoghurt pots, washing-up liquid bottles, kitchen roll tubes or tetra paks, things that had their own structure and could be decorated and repurposed were the best way for his active imagination to express itself until his own ability caught up.

This is a great example of that kind of project. The flower pots are a simple element that help small hands create a quite adorable ornament, and a scarecrow paperweight on your desk could be just what’s needed to brighten up the next Zoom call!

When all the glue has dried, a face and other details have been drawn on in black sharpie
Yield: 1

Make your own flower-pot scarecrow

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Active Time: 30 minutes
Drying Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Difficulty: Medium

This little flower pot scarecrow is easy to make and ever so cute. If you don't have small terracotta pots to hand, egg box cells can provide a similar shape to work with.

Materials

  • 4 mini plant pots (if you cannot find these then you could use a cut up egg carton)
  • Paint
  • Yellow wool
  • Orange felt
  • PVA glue
  • Black or brown pipe cleaner
  • Black pen (I used a black Sharpie)

Tools

  • Paintbrush/glue spreader
  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Paint one plant pot, this will be the scarecrow’s trousers. Four small terracotta plant pots waiting for use
  2. Paint another plant pot, this will be your scarecrow's top. Two small terracotta plant pots, painted and ready to use
  3. Leave to completely dry.
  4. Using your glue, stick the two pots on top of each other, as shown. Leave to dry. Gluing the base of one pot to the base of the other, with plenty of PVA glue
  5. Glue your pipe cleaner on top, then attach another pot on top. Leave to dry. The pipe cleaner for the arms is glued between the top two pots that represent the body and the head
  6. Cut a square out of the orange felt, a little larger than your plant pot. Fold the felt into quarters and cut a curve from the outside corners. Unfold and you have a circle. It does not matter if it is not perfect! A square of orange felt folded into corners, ready to have the corner trimmed off in a curve for the hat brim
  7. Cut lengths of wool to make the straw hair, then glue on top of the pot. (I wound the wool around two of my fingers then snipped along, then cut in half again.) Make sure you use plenty of glue. Lengths of yellow yarn cut to make straw hair
  8. While the glue is still wet, put the orange circle of felt on top, this will be the brim of the hat.
  9. Put PVA glue around the rim of the last pot and put upside down onto the felt. Leave to dry. The final pot is glued upside down on top of the hat brim, before being left to dry
  10. When your scarecrow is completely dry, you can add
    him/her a face and details. When all the glue has dried, a face and other details have been drawn on in black sharpie
© Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival
Project Type: Decorations / Category: Gluing and sticking