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In celebration of the release of its new collection of children's DVDs this spring, Universal has teamed up with arts and crafts superstore, Hobbycraft to bring you step-by-step guides to creating much loved TV characters at home this Easter break.
The Universal Easter collection features four titles full of fun and laughter, showing off the best in CBeebies classics and CGI animation.
The complete collection features: Everything's Rosie: The Greatest Show in the Garden, Rastamouse, Hot, Hot, Hot, Driver Dan's Story Train: Bouncing Bunnies, and the new animated series of Kipling's Jungle Book.
Enjoy the crafts! For more information on these Easter activities, visit Hobbycraft.co.uk.
Make a Driver Dan Egg Cosy (template below)
You will need:
Felt, various colours
Chenille stems
Wobbly eyes
A needle
Co-ordinating colour of strong thread
Fabric glue
Needlework pins
Scissors
Optional: Felt tip/marker pen, brown
Time:
Allow: 1 Hour
Skill Level: Beginner
What to do:
1. Fold a double thickness of your chosen colour of felt, pin the template to it and cut out two basic egg cosy shapes using the template provided (below).
2. Cut out the lion shapes from your chosen colours of felt.
3. Sew the two pieces of the basic egg cosy template together leaving the straight side open.
4. For each animal add facial features using coloured felt, wobbly eyes and chenille stems. These can be glued on using fabric glue. Use the pictures as a guide.
5. Add extra detail by drawing in dots using a brown felt tip or marker pen near the whiskers on the lion. Use the picture as a guide.
Hints and Tips:
If you don't want to use a needle and thread, fabric glue applied in moderation can be used to stick together your egg cosies, although they will be more durable if they are sewn.
Template to use:
Make Driver Dan and Everything's Rosie Bunny Characters: Bunny Eggs
You will need:
Polystyrene eggs
Bamboo skewers
75ml acrylic paint – blue (and other preferred colours)
¼" pink pom poms
½" white pom poms
Crepe paper
3mm google eyes
Cupcake cases
Glue
Time:
Allow: 1 Hour plus drying time
Skill Level: Beginner
What to do:
1 Place a polystyrene egg on to a skewer and paint. Leave to dry in a tall vessel (a vase or hi-ball glass). Repeat with other eggs.
2. When dry, glue a white pom pom tail on to each bunny egg. Cut out crepe paper ears and glue these to the head, followed by two googly eyes and a tiny pink pom pom nose.
3. Shred some green crepe paper and lay inside a cupcake case. Pop the bunny inside.
Make a Jungle Book Monkey Hand Puppet (template below)
You will need:
Dark brown A4 felt x 4
Cream A4 felt x 1
Light brown A4 felt x 1
Contrasting felt for inner ears and accessories
Embroidery thread
Embroidery needle
Eyes
Scissors
Embellishments
Time:
Allow: 2½ Hours
Skill Level: Intermediate
What to do:
1.Using the template cut out all the required pieces.
2. Sew the inner ears to the outer ears then sew the tummy onto the body and sew the arms together.
3. Put the ears in place (as marked) between the face and back pieces of felt. Pin all layers together and then sew using a simple overstitch.
4. Fold the mouth piece in half and stitch along folded edge with a running stitch. This prevents the mouth opening too wide and getting stuck.
5. Sew the bottom lip to the body (B to B), then the top lip to the nose (A to A).
6. Lay the body on top of the back and line up the nose with the face (C to C), overlapping the felt by about 1cm. The body will be longer than the back at the base of the puppet.
7. Stitch the nose to the face then attach the eyes. You can use buttons, felt shapes, beads or teddy bear eyes. Note: where you place the eyes really alters the character of the puppet.
8. Start sewing each side of the body together inserting the arms about 5 cm down from the mouth.
9. Decorate your puppet by making hats, necklaces, glasses or other accessories of your choice.
Hints and Tips:
Use contrasting embroidery thread for the stitching.
Template to use: