Armadillo

Materials

• One pink kids outfit
• Brown felt (1.5 yards)
• Ivory felt (½ yard)
• Pink felt (2 sheets, 9x12 inches each)
• Black pom poms (2 large)
• Stuffing
• Cardboard (large sheet for the back)
• Headband
• Poster Board
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun and sticks

Instructions 

For the armadillo body:

1. Cut a long oval from cardboard that fits from the shoulders to the knees for the base of the shell, and as wide as the back.
2. Cover one side with brown felt. Cut two large rectangles from the poster board that are long enough to dome over the cardboard base. These pieces will cover the top and bottom edges of the base piece.
3. Cut a vertical slit about halfway up, and at the center of each poster board piece.
4. Pull the edges of this center cut to overlap each other to form more of a curve at the middle of the shell and glue together.
5. See our Ear video to see this curving technique:
6. Glue the poster board domed over the cardboard base and trim the top and bottom edges along the curve of the oval base to match it.
7. It’s ok if the center is open and uncovered at this point. You’ll cover it in the next step.

For the zigzag shell stripes:

1. Cut long strips of poster board that fit over the center of the domed shell.
2. Cover each poster board strip with brown felt, and an ivory strip cut in a zig zag on top.
3. Glue 6 of these strips fanned over the center of the shell.
4. Glue felt straps to the back of the shell so it can be worn over the shoulders like a backpack. 

For the head:

1. Cut a long oval with a tapered end for the nose from brown felt for the head.
2. Use black pom poms for the eyes.
3. Cut two pointed ears from brown felt and smaller inner ear pieces from light pink felt.
4. Glue them together and pinch and glue the bottom edges of each ear together to give them more shape.
5. Glue the ears to the head piece and glue it to a headband.

For the tail:

1. Cut two long tapered triangles of brown felt for the tail.
2. Stuff with newspapers, felt scraps, or polyfil and glue together. Glue stripes of ivory felt along the tail. Safety pin to the back of the hood with a safety pin.