Blogger / 7 September, 2020 / Nanny Anita

Make Your Own Worry Dolls

Worry Dolls come from Guatemala and were created as a remedy for worrying. According to Mayan legends, when someone is kept awake worrying, they tell their worry to as many dolls as they need to. The dolls are then placed under the pillow. The dolls are meant to then take over worrying, which leaves the person able to get a good night sleep.

I had been thinking about making these with EC and YC for a while. I bought them ones a while ago, but over the years they have disappeared into the abyss of their rooms. EC used to suffer from night terrors; now he often goes through periods of nightmares. However, both of them are about to go major changes with a new baby arriving soon. Although both are very excited about it, they do have some worries (naturally). So after a little chat we decided that maybe now was a good time to make them.

Make sure you follow my arts and crafts board on Pinterest. Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

You will need:

• Craft clips
• Embroidery thread
• Glue
• Scissors
• Pens

This craft can be a little tricky for smaller ones (although it is a great activity for fine motor skills). I have included an easier version for younger children at the bottom.  I thought YC might struggle with this, but she actually did really well.  She certainly didn’t want to do an easier version of it when I offered it to her.

First choose three different colours for your worry doll.

Then starting at the top add a little glue and press the end or your first thread into. Then begin to wind the thread around the top 3^rd. When you have wound it enough then add a little bit of glue to the end of the thread and press down to secure it.

Wrapping the legs is slightly harder than the rest of the doll.

Repeat this for the next two colours. When you get to the “legs” you can wrap them individually, or not. We went down one leg, then back up and then did the other one.

Next add a little bit of glue to the top and bottom where the thread is right at the end of the clip. This is to stop if coming off.

Finally add a face using pen.

Now as you can see this can be rather tricky. So for little ones, instead of using thread, let them colour the clips in with pens.

Once we had finished our worry dolls we found some little boxes to keep them in.

The dolls are traditionally placed under the pillow. However, if you are doing this with young children you may want to put them back in the box so that they don’t pose a chocking hazard.

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