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Peg Dolls for Holy Week and the Easter Season

by sparkle | May 28, 2025 | Craft Tutorials

A number of years ago our family painted a few peg dolls for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Last year, as we were having our Seder meal on Holy Thursday, I thought, “It would be wonderful to have peg dolls for the Last Supper.”

It took me a year to get around to figuring out what they should look like. I wanted each of the Apostles to have a symbol to signify who they are. There are many possible symbols for each Apostle seen in iconography, statues, and paintings. We chose symbols for each Apostle for their simplicity for children and their connection to something memorable in the Apostle’s life. (Scroll down for a free PDF guide.)

This Holy Thursday we worked together as a family (including grandparents!) to create the peg dolls for the Last Supper scene. While given a specific symbol for each apostle, everyone was encouraged to choose their own colors and styles for the apostles they chose to paint. For the table, we are just using a simple block of wood. Perhaps we’ll paint some food on the table next year? (The book pages shown behind the peg dolls is The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith.)

I’m so excited to share with you our ideas for the Last Supper peg dolls, but I’m even more excited to share another beautiful and unexpected joy…

All throughout the Easter season, the peg dolls have been on our dining room buffet, and our children play with them almost every day! This has truly become a way to naturally encourage the celebration of Easter all 50 days. When my children play with the peg dolls, the dolls talk of Jesus having risen from the dead, and it’s as if we can feel the Easter joy and excitement of that very first Easter, everyone abuzz of this joyful news! Seeing my children play with these Easter peg dolls makes me think we might want to add more, like the many different people in a French Santons de Provence scene at Christmastime.

Would you like to make a Last Supper peg doll set? We have a FREE printable for you with possible symbols for each Apostle. Use the symbols as a starting point, and use your own creativity to make them your own. I think children especially love to play with the dolls they have made themselves. Encourage each artist to choose his/her own style, clothing and hair color, etc.

Click on the image below for a link to the FREE PDF.

We also added Matthias to join the group in the Easter season. We chose two symbols for Matthias, a heart with a cross in it (as a reminder that Peter prayed, acknowledging that God knows everyone’s heart), and some sticks (to represent being chosen by casting lots).

“Then they prayed, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.’

Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.”

– Acts 1:24-26

I used a permanent fine point pen to write the name and symbol of each Apostle on the bottom of each peg doll.

Wondering what supplies we used? We used 2 3/8 inch size peg dolls, Apple Barrel acrylic paint, and paint brushes in a variety of sizes. It’s also helpful to have toothpicks (for the eyes and other small details), paper towels (to dry the brushes), and a plastic table cloth to protect your work surface. Mod Podge is optional (but recommended) to protect the paint.

For more ideas on creating peg dolls for Holy Week and Easter, please visit our post, Homemade Easter Decorations that Last. Other peg dolls you may want for the Easter season include resurrected Jesus (showing the wounds in his hands and feet), Mary the Mother of God (we made her with happy smile and a heart), Mary Magdalene (with a jar of oil), Mary the mother of James, and some angels and soldiers.

If I had the woodworking skills, I would love to build an upper room as we near Pentecost. For now, we are building an upper room out of blocks.

Reading beautiful picture books helps to enrich understanding of the Easter story. Some of our favorites, which we like to place near the peg dolls, are The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith, and The Holy Spirit and the Greatest Adventure by Gracie Jagla.

May God bless you in this Easter Season and always!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Cookie Cutter Needle Felting – perfect beginner project

by sparkle | Oct 3, 2024 | Craft Tutorials

Thinking about giving needle felting a try? Follow our simple video tutorial for a delightful project that is perfect for beginners!

At Sparkles and Sprinkles, we love just about everything that might fit in the category of handcrafts. However, we had put needle felting in a category of its own – “too dangerous!” Fortunately a family in our homeschool group asked if we might be able to learn needle felting in our handcraft club. With this motivation, we decided to be daring and give it a try.

It turns out that needle felting is not so scary after all (whew!). We decided to start with the easiest type of project, as recommended in a lovely book about needle felting, Needle Felting for Beginners: How to Sculpt with Wool. This book describes how the wool just naturally weaves itself together by getting poked with a felting needle – so simple!

Needle Felting for Beginners recommends using a cookie cutter to help make the shape. With this method, one is much less likely to get a poke from the felting needle. These sweet little wool creations made with the help of a cookie cutter can be strung into a garland to decorate your home, if you like. We made a fall garland with pumpkin shapes, but you could use any shape (hearts, flowers, stars, Christmas trees….)

We also learned that finger protectors can be worn to make getting poked even less likely. Of course young children should we watched and guided carefully, even with these precautions. In our opinion age 5 would probably be the youngest age for projects like this.

Are you ready to try needle felting? We’ve put together a shopping list with clickable links so that you can easily gather supplies. Then watch our video to find out just how easy and fun… and even, to our surprise, relaxing… needle felting can be.

Needle Felting Shopping List

Needle Felting Pad: We wanted to make a bunch of pads for our homeschool group club, so we bought 2″ thick foam pad and cut it into several 5×5 inch pieces. If you just need one pad, then this felting pad from Desert Breeze would be great.

Leather Finger Protectors: We needed more than one pair, so we chose this pack of 10 pairs of leather finger protectors. If you need fewer pairs, these leather finger protectors could be a good option.

Size 40 Triangle Needle: Needles come in many different shapes and sizes. The size 40 triangle needle works well for this beginner project. The authors of the book we read recommend a size 40 spiral needle for the finishing touches, but we have found the size 40 triangle needle works for the whole project from start to finish. Many people recommend using needles made in Europe for their superior quality. We have used needles from Felted Sky and from Desert Breeze. Both seem to work well and are European-made. (However, even good quality needles can still break, so be sure to use them only in an up and down motion – never pulling them from side-to-side in the wool). Felted sky has a variety pack of needles on Etsy, as well as a multi-pack of size 40 triangle needles (even if you think you only need one needle, it’s a good idea to have extras on hand in case of breakage).

(Or to keep things simple, you might like a kit that includes needles, felting pad, and finger protectors from Desert Breeze. This kit does not include the 40 triangle needle, but we have found that a 40 spiral needle can work for this project.)

Wool: We tried two different wools for our project. Desert Breeze has wool in a variety of colors that works well. We also were very happy with an Etsy seller from West Virginia (Bridget’s Farm Cart) who dyes her wools in beautiful colors, including an orange color that actually comes with a variety of orange shades specifically for making pumpkins. It’s lovely!

Cookie Cutters: If you plan to make a garland, small cookie cutters (about 1.5 inches in diameter) would be best. Any size cookie cutter can work, however. We use these sweet mini pumpkin cookie cutters from The Cookie Cutter Shop. If you are looking for another shape, consider this mini heart or mini star.)

Wool Felt Balls: If you are planning to make a garland, you could make several of your cookie cutter shaped creations, or you could add in some small wool felt balls to add variety and save time.

Embroidery Needle and Embroidery Floss: To string your garland together, you’ll need some embroidery floss and an embroidery needle.

Let’s make some felted pumpkins…

Thanks for stopping by sparklesandsprinkles.blog!

We hope you come to enjoy needle felting as much as we have!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Summer Flower Walk and Other Fun Flower Activities

by sparkle | Jul 30, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

Here at Sparkles and Sprinkles, we have stepped away from the computer for quite a while… the sunshine and the garden were calling, and we just had to answer. But we are hopping back into our blog for a bit to bring you some ideas that you can take right back outside: a flower scavenger hunt, flower arranging for kids, painting a floral still life, and more. Enjoy!

Summer Flower Walk

Where we live, it gets too hot in the afternoon to spend much time outside, but our daughters love early morning walks. This weekend our 7-year-old asked if we could do the spring flower scavenger hunt that we had created for Mother’s Day. This gave us a great opportunity to talk about how different flowers bloom at different times of year, and inspired us to make another flower scavenger hunt for the summer.

flower walk french english scavenger hunt

summer flower walk french english anglais francais

Click on the images below to download your free summer flower scavenger hunt card! One is in English and the other is bilingual in French and English. When you print it, print in landscape. Choose “print on both sides of paper” and click “flip on short edge” in order to make it into a card to invite someone on a flower walk. Or simply print the first page if you only want a one-sided scavenger hunt page. It can be printed on regular printer paper, but we recommend cardstock.

Summer Flower Walk in English

french summer flower scavenger hunt francias anglais

Summer Flower Walk (French and English)

Books to enjoy about flowers

When the afternoon heat makes staying inside in air conditioning the best idea, we have some suggestions for you on books we love with a flower theme. Miss Rumphius and Katie and the Impressionists. We are also enjoying a delightful new book by Sarah Mackenzie that is inspired by Miss Rumphius. It’s called A Little More Beautiful. The images below are links to Amazon if you are interested in purchasing the books, or you can find them at your local library.

Making bouquets

Children seem to naturally love making bouquets, so we love to plant flowers that thrive when cut… roses, zinnias, cosmos, and verbena to name a few. We also love adding sweet smelling accents to our bouquets – lavender, mint and rosemary – these plants tend to thrive and spread year after year without much care (that’s a big plus when growing a garden of children is really our primary job!). To help your children make a bouquet, give them options for what can be cut in the garden, then cut the flowers they choose. (Alternatively, if you don’t have a garden, picking up a bouquet from the store and allowing your children to cut the flowers and make smaller arrangements can also be fun!) Then allow your child to pick a sturdy, small vase or jar. Give your children time to arrange the flowers to their liking… a great opportunity for everyone to really take the time to stop and smell the flowers.

Art inspired by flowers

To give your children a chance to really look closely at flowers, painting a still life can be so much fun! Bringing paper and painting supplies outside to paint in the garden can also be delightful! Some of our favorite art supplies for painting flowers, and especially painting outside, are the Canson Mixed Media sketch book (great heavy weight paper and easily transportable small size) and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils (sketch and then brush with water) or washable watercolors for younger children.

Enjoy the beauty of summer!

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Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Knit a doll hat! Yes you really CAN!

by sparkle | Mar 5, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

Does knitting a hat sound daunting? Normally it would have to us too… but not anymore! I don’t really know how to knit, but I have tried to teach myself at times and to teach my children. We have never gotten too far and have a number of half-knit projects in our knitting supply bin.

I was so delighted, though, this past month when my 7 year old daughter picked up a round knitting loom that we had in our bin and said she wanted to knit something. I happened to have the time to sit down with her and start knitting. She caught on really fast! It is so much easier than a pair of knitting needles!

The knitting looms (24 peg or 12 peg) we used came with directions. However, we found this tutorial from The Sweetest Journey to be very helpful to get started. We found chunky yarn worked well for this project and makes a nice cozy hat.

In this post we have measurement suggestions for you to make a baby doll hat and a hat for an American Girl size doll (or a larger baby doll). We have found that for younger children, or children with limited patience, starting with the smaller 12 peg loom project is better (it takes quite a bit less time, and children can quickly have the joy of completing a project!). We used a 12 peg loom for the hat that this sweet little baby doll is wearing.

To determine which loom size to use, you can measure the circumference of your doll’s head.

For an American Girl doll size (13 inch head circumference), we found a 24 peg round loom works well.

For a baby doll with a small head (10 inch circumference), we found a 12 peg loom works well.

This photo shows a 24 peg loom for American Girl doll size hat, and a 12 peg loom for small baby doll size hat.

After knitting a number of rows, you can periodically check the length of your knitting. Before taking the knitting off the loom, it should be 5 to 6 inches in length for American Girl doll size (or about 4 to 5 inches in length for small baby doll size). If you want to be able to roll the hat up at the bottom, choose the longer measurements (we chose the shorter measurements for the hats pictured here). Be sure to follow the directions in the tutorial suggested above on how to remove the knitting from the loom and secure the top of the hat.

You can add a pom pom to your hat once the hat is removed from the loom. You can find our easy DIY pom pom tutorial by clicking on the pom pom image above.

We suggest the following loom options (these also come with a knitting tool for taking the yarn over the pegs and a large yarn needle for finishing the hat):

12 peg Boye round loom (for a small doll)
24 peg Boye round loom (for a larger doll)
Boye round loom set (smallest loom is 24 peg, and the larger ones can be used to make hats for children and adults)

We think chunky yarn is nice for these hats. We used Bernat Softee Chunky for the hats pictured here. It comes in a nice variety of colors.

We found the tutorial at The Sweetest Journey to clearly show how to make a hat. You can find that tutorial by clicking here.

You will also need a pair of scissors to complete this project.

We’ve become big fans of Lita Judge books ever since taking a writers workshop class she led through Read Aloud Revival. We love how she described that writing and reading did not come easily to her as a child, but that did not stop her from becoming a great author and illustrator! When we read Red Hat the other day, we could not resist adding it to our doll hat knitting post.

Red Hat is probably even more meaningful and fun to read if read after reading Red Sled. It seems to take place in the spring, following the winter of Red Sled.

Both of these books are great for young children and/or children who may struggle to read. There are very few words, and a lot of room for imagination! Our 7 year old daughter even found a sweet lesson in the book: Don’t get discouraged if something upsetting happens, you can probably fix the problem and make things better.

Wishing you and your children a peaceful knitting time together! Enjoy!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Saint Patrick’s Prayer Shamrock Garland or Wreath

by sparkle | Feb 25, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

I love the Saint Patrick’s prayer. It is such a beautiful reminder of how God’s love surrounds us!

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

To make this shamrock garland or wreath, you can cut out shamrock shapes and copy lines of the prayer onto each one. If you would like a printable version, please visit our Etsy shop. (Your purchase helps us to cover blogging expenses so that we can continue to bring you more fun craft and baking ideas. Thank you!)

Cut out shamrock shapes with a verse from the Saint Patrick’s Prayer on each one. (Our printable on Etsy has lines from the prayer on each shamrock, plus a page of blank shamrocks if you want to include some blank shamrocks or write your own words. The shamrocks are a pdf of a hand watercolored shamrock.)

We find chunky yarn or 1/4 inch wide ribbon works well for the garland. It fits well through a standard hole punch hole, and allows the shamrock pieces to stay in place in the way you would like them to be spread.

You can create a circle out of pieces of cardstock or cardboard or a paper plate, then glue on shamrock shapes for a pretty indoor wreath.

Garlands can be a nice way to decorate a window, a mantel or any wall space in your home. This garlands brings a bit of greenery to our windows, where the trees are still bare at this time of year.

Of course, our favorite part is making it our very own, with decorations done by the children. We find this can be a fun time to talk about the beauty of the prayer. We hope you and your family can enjoy making a Saint Patrick’s Prayer Shamrock Garland or Wreath to decorate your home this season! Enjoy!

Are you looking for more Saint Patrick’s Day fun? I love the way the CCC cartoon version of Saint Patrick’s life imagines how Saint Patrick first composed this prayer. It shows him as a newly captured slave tending the sheep. Imagine how lonely and scary that would feel! He shows his trust in God, etches a cross in a tree, and calmly says this prayer.

If you are looking for a fun activity for your family this Saint Patrick’s Day, you may want to check out this beautiful movie.

P.S. If you have a formed.org account, this movie is available for free. Many churches have an account for everyone in their parish to access Formed for free, but you can also get an individual subscription (the last we checked, there was a free trial option too).

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Peg Dolls for Holy Week and the Easter Season

Summer Flower Walk and Other Fun Flower Activities

Knit a doll hat! Yes you really CAN!

For an American Girl doll size (13 inch head circumference), we found a 24 peg round loom works well.

For a baby doll with a small head (10 inch circumference), we found a 12 peg loom works well.

This photo shows a 24 peg loom for American Girl doll size hat, and a 12 peg loom for small baby doll size hat.

You can add a pom pom to your hat once the hat is removed from the loom. You can find our easy DIY pom pom tutorial by clicking on the pom pom image above.

Saint Patrick’s Prayer Shamrock Garland or Wreath

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