Birds of a Feather

By Anne Alexander

To make a bird, you will need: pencil, white paper, scissors, lightweight cardboard, colored markers, large-eyed needle, and 3 yards (2.7 m) yarn.

1. Trace the bird on this page on white paper and cut it out. Use this pattern to trace the bird onto the cardboard. Cut out the bird, then cut out the large circle.

   

2. Color the body, eye, and beak. Suggestions: a robin redbreast, yellow chick, bluebird, and/or white dove.

3. Thread the needle with the yarn and pull the yarn so that the ends meet. Holding the ends of the yarn at the top of the bird’s body, put the needle down through the hole, around the bottom of the body and up through the hole again. Pull the yarn not quite tight. Now bring the needle up around the top of the body, and repeat the process until all the yarn is gone (see illustration).

4. Clip the yarn at the top and bottom of the bird’s body and fluff it.