Crafts for kids: make a pom-pom haggis!

Burns Night is almost upon us, a time when Scotland celebrates its most famous poet, Robert Burns, and also enjoys its national dish, haggis. While some people claim that haggis is made from lamb and oatmeal, we prefer to believe that the haggis is a mythical creature whose natural habitat is Scotland's mountainous highlands - after all one has been preserved in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum!

In lieu of reciting Burns' Address to a Haggis, we've decided to celebrate this wee beastie by making our own pom-pom haggis. It's super-easy to make, and a fantastic craft project for kids! Please note you will be using sharp scissors, so adult supervision will be needed for young children.

What you'll need

• we used an extra-large pom-pom maker by Clover
• 2 balls of sand-coloured yarn 
• 2 pipe-cleaners
• wiggly eyes
• sharp scissors

How to make a pom-pom haggis

To speed up making the extra-large pom-pom, we used two threads of yarn from two balls of wool at the same time. You should have some yarn left at the end, but make sure that you save at least 60cm of yarn to bind the two sides of your pom-pom together.

Step 1: begin by opening one side of your pom-pom maker, and wind the yarn around the crescent shape.

Step 2: continue winding until your crescent looks a little bit like a wool croissant, with a small gap at the top. Cut your yarn and tuck it over the top.

Step 3: open the other half of your pom-pom maker. We're now going to integrate the legs of the haggis into the pom-pom. Although some sources claim that the haggis has three legs to stabilise it as it runs around the mountain top, we modelled ours on the four-legged breed, which has shorter legs on one side! Bend one of your pipe cleaners over your crescent, around 1/3 from the right edge, making sure to make one of the sides slightly longer! Carefully wind your wool around it, to hold it in place.

Step 4: repeat on the left hand side with your second pipe-cleaner, continuing until you have created another 'yarn croissant', with a small gap at the top. Cut your yarn, and place over the top. Click the two sides of your pom-pom maker together.

Step 5: take a sharp pair of scissors, and cut through your yarn, following the central groove in the middle of the pom-pom maker - watch out for your haggis legs!

Step 6: to bind the two sides of your pom-pom together, you now need to cut a two lengths of yarn, each around 30cm long. Hold them together, and wrap them around the circular groove that runs between the two sides. Carefully tie them with a tight knot - as you'll see from the photo below, I only used one piece of yarn, and at this point my yarn broke! 

Step 7: carefully remove the pom-pom maker from your fluffy pom-pom, one side at a time.

Step 8: trim the cord holding your pom-pom together. If you wanted a neater finish, you could now carefully trim your pom-pom's edges, but we believe that the haggis is a sturdy creature who likes to look a little wild and woolly! Attach your wiggly eyes, and twist the pipe-cleaners to give your haggis feet.

And voila, you have created a haggis! You can use this technique to create other creatures, such as spiders and monsters - just change the colour of wool that you use!

We really hope that you enjoy making our pom-pom haggis, and would love to see your creations! Please share your makes with us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter!

Rebecca at the Crafty Kit Co xoxo

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