How to… make a beanbag bear

A long time ago, in a library far, far away (well The Sir Duncan Rice Library) we made some beanbag bears. We promised to post a How to… a while back and here it is. Now you can make any assortment of small (or large) beanbag creatures.

What you need:

Scissors
A pencil
A felt tip pen or piece of chalk
Needle and thread
Felt (black and white for a panda, brown for a brown bear, white and cream for a polar bear)
500g of split peas
PVA Glue
Copy of our bear template

Steps:

1. Trace around the back and front template on light brown, and the dark brown for the nose and tummy. Try to be as felt efficient as possible as any excess can be reused.

2. Cut out the traced around shapes neatly and carefully.

3. Thread a needle and sew the front and back pieces together, ensuring that the stitches are small enough so that split peas do not fall out. Leave a 5cm gap to pour the peas in.

4. When you have almost completely sewn the bear up, pour in the split peas in. You could use a plastic funnel to help with this step. Sew the bear closed.

5. Now glue the bears tummy and nose. Add eyes and a more specific nose if you choose. Leave your bear to dry for half an hour, so that the pieces stick on.