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Find out how you can make a baseball, softball, or both using a paper bag and a few other basic supplies. By substituting small treats for the newspaper, this can make a fun party favor or gift.
- Age Guideline: 5 Years and Up
- Time Required: 30 minutes (Does not include drying time)
The above age and time guidelines are estimates. This project can be modified to suit other ages and may take more or less time depending on your circumstances.
Materials Needed:
- Paper Bag
- Newspaper or Small Treats
- Paint and/or Marker
- Craft Glue or Stapler
- Paint Brush
- Scissors
Instructions:
The size of your finished stuffed baseball or softball will depend on the size of paper bag used. You can use a small lunch sack or a large, paper grocery bag. For the baseball pictured here, I used a small white paper bag.
No matter what sized bag you use, the first step is to cut the bottom out of the bag. It will then look like you have a paper 'tube'. Lay the bag flat on your work surface and draw a circle whatever size you want youe baseball or softball to be. Depending on how big you want your finished project to be, you may be able to make more than one ball out of your paper bag. If you want some help in making your circle, find a plate, cup, or other object that is round and trace around it.
Next, cut out your circle or circles, making sure you cut through both layers of paper bag so for each tracing you get 2 circles. Use paint and/or markers to paint your baseball or softball.
You might want to start off by painting your circles white if you did not use a white paper bag. For my baseball, I used red paint to paint on 'threads', but you can use whatever color you like. For softball 'threads', I would use a light gray. Let the paint dry.
Once the paint is dry, line up the edges of the two ball pieces on top of each other, painted sides out. Attach them together by gluing or stapling around the edges, leave a 2 - 5 inch opening along the edge. The size of the opening you leave will depend on the size of your ball. If you used glue, let it dry completely before you do the next step.
To stuff your ball, crumple up small pieces of newspaper. If you are making a small stuffed ball, use small pieces of crumpled newspaper, if your ball is larger use bigger pieces of paper. Fill the ball with newspaper!
If you would like to use this craft for a party favor or even a gift, stuff the ball with treats instead of newspaper.
Stuff your baseball or softball to the desired thickness, and then glue or staple the opening closed. If you want to be able to hang up the finished ball, add a loop of yarn or ribbon into this seems before you close it.
I hope you enjoy this baseball craft project. If you make this craft, make sure you send in a photo so it can be posted here. You can also get your own crafts published. If you want to be one of the first to know when new craft projects are posted, take a few moments to sign up for the Family Crafts Newsletter and you can also chat about crafts with others in the Family Crafts Forum.
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