Jolly Santa peg dolls

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.

Looking for a festive craft to fill a quiet afternoon? Why not make these adorable Santa peg dolls from real wooden dolly pegs?
 
They’re great to play with as puppets. Or you can add some ribbon and hang them from the Christmas tree! A fun festive craft the kids will love.

Summary:

Time: 15 minutes
Age: Big kids
Difficulty: A little fiddly

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.
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You will need:

  • Wooden dolly pegs
  • Red, pink and black paint – acrylic paints work best
  • Paint brush
  • Red, black and white felt
  • Scissors
  • Tiny white pom poms
  • Glue gun or strong PVA glue
  • White pipe cleaners
  • Black pen

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.
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Step 1: Paint your peg

Paint the top of your dolly peg with pale pink paint. This is for Santa’s face.

Then paint the bottom of your peg red. This is for his red trousers.

At the very bottom of the peg, paint a small section in black paint. This is for Santa’s boots.

Acrylic paints work really well to give a thick layer over the wood.

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.
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Step 2: Cut out Santa’s clothes

Take your red felt. Cut out a little triangle shape with a curved edge as pictured here. It should be just big enough to roll into a cone over the top of your dolly peg (see image below). This is for Santa’s hat.

Then cut out a larger rectangle for his coat. And cut out a narrow strip of black felt for his belt.

Find a tiny white pom pom to go on top of his hat. If you don’t have one, you can roll a little piece of cotton wool into a ball and use that instead.

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.
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Step 3. Glue on Santa’s hat

Spread some glue along the edges of your red felt triangle and roll it into a cone. Then glue it to the top of your dolly peg.

A glue gun works well. If you don’t have one, use some strong PVA or fabric glue.

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.
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Step 4: Put on his bright red coat

Wrap the piece of rectangular felt around your peg.

Fix it in place at the back with some strong glue.

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.
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Step 5: Add some festive details

Glue a little pom pom to the top of Santa’s hat.

Add some ‘fur trim’ by gluing a small length of white pipe cleaner around the rim.

Then stick on the thin black strip of felt around his middle to make a belt.

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.
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Step 6: Cut out his beard

Take the white felt and cut out shapes for Santa’s beard and moustache.

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Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.
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Step 7: The finishing touches

Glue down the beard and then stick the moustache on top.

To finish off Santa’s face, draw on two little dots with black pen for Santa’s eyes.

Play with these Santa peg dolls or hang them up as decorations

Make these Santa peg dolls as a fun Christmas craft to enjoy with the kids this year. Made with dolly pegs, felt, paint and glue.

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