Catnip Kitties

Just think about it — fresh food and water always on hand, the ability to roam about in the ‘wilderness’ (or suburban neighborhood) at will, an entire house full of couches, pillows, and beds at your disposal, chase squirrels when you feel a bit feral, and then come inside for a good scratch behind the ears…  I guess I wouldn’t want to be just ANY cat; I’d want to be one of MY cats.  I know, there is a certain level of cache and adventure to being a wild animal, but do you really want to have to hunt for your food every freaking day?  Not to mention, who wants to be dodging predators when you could be napping in the sun?

Box of Catnip Kitty Toys

Anyway, in honor of being a cat, I wanted to share one of our recent craft ideas.  Using a similar technique to my wild things felt dolls, my kids and I made catnip toys for our kitties (Bacco, Max, and Petunia) and some of our other kitty friends.  These little toys were fun and easy to whip up in an afternoon.

Materials:
1. Craft Felt
2. Scissors
3. Permanent Markers
4. Fiberfill or Cotton Batting
5. Catnip
6. Sewing machine or needle and thread

Step 1 (for the kids) – using the permanent marker, draw a cat face on one of the pieces of felt.  Draw eyes in a contrasting color
Step 2 (for a grown up) – cut out the cat face and eyes.  leave about 1/4 – 1/2 for seam allowance. trace the cat face onto another piece of  felt and cut it out so that you have to matching pieces (a front and a back)
Step 3 (for a grown up) – sew the eyes onto the face
Step 4 (for a grown up) – place wrong sides together of cat face front and back; sew together leaving 1 – 2″ opening at the bottom
Step 5 (for the kids) – stuff the toy with fiberfill and catnip
Step 6 (for a grown up) – sew the bottom shut
Step 7 (for the kids) – toss the cat nip toy to a kitty and see what happens!

Our cats love wrestling around with their catnip kitties!

Look What We Made!

Completely off-topic, my daughter made this creepily realistic pair of legs out of our leftover fiberfill and a pair of her tights.  I just had to post the photo.

Funky Tights - Preschool Artistic Expression!