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Are you looking for an easy activity to do with your kids that doesn’t need many supplies? A yarn octopus doll is a great rainy day craft for kids to learn and practice how to braid.

My five-year-old son was so proud of himself when he made his first braid. The repetition of braiding the eight tentacles had him master the skill in no time.

Dive into your yarn stash. This no-sew doll project is perfect to use your leftover yarn scraps on.

Try it, it will be fun!

Continue below for the printable yarn octopus instructions!

Three pastel colored handmade braided yarn octopuses. One mustard yellow, one light blue and the other pale pink. Text on image: Easy DIY braided octopus. thatcraftsite.com.

How to Make a Braided Yarn Octopus Doll

Yield: 1 Braided Octopus

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: Low

These easy yarn octopus dolls are a great craft to do with the kids and teach them how to braid! Get step by step DIY instructions to make your own octopus!

Materials

1 skein of yarn
10 strings of yarn for tying off
1 2″ styrofoam ball
2 small round beads
scrap of felt
fabric glue
or
hot glue gun

Tools

scissors
needle and thread

Instructions

Start by wrapping the yarn in a large loop of about 15″. Use the back of a chair, cut a piece of cardboard, or your arm (hold the start of the yarn in the palm of your hand, and then wrap the yarn around your elbow). Wind it around about 50-60 times (not too tight).
Carefully remove the yarn from the back of the chair or whereever you wound it. Make sure to keep all the loops intact.
Use a string of yarn and knot it tightly around the wool, about 1"-2″ from the top. Double knot and trim the excess.
Position the styrofoam ball inside the loop, right underneath where you just made the knot. Carefully position the yarn around the ball so it covers it completely.
Use another string and tie that right underneath the ball. Again, tie a double knot and trim the excess.
Cut through the small loops on top to create the hairdo, trim ends as needed. Cut the large loops on the bottom so you end up with large strings of yarn underneath a yarn covered ball.
It’s important that your octopus has eight tentacles or arms.
First, separate the yarn into 2 even sections. Then separate those sections in two, leaving you with four. Separate again to end up with eight evenly thick tentacles.
Braid each section and tie off the ends with the strings of yarn. Trim the tassels at the end of the tentacles.
Cut two small circles out of the felt and sew one bead on each circle to create the eyes.
Finish your octopus by gluing the eyes on. Fabric glue will work, but your hot glue will work just as easy.

Notes

Total time depends largely on how fast the maker wraps the yarn and makes the braids.

These are not intended to be given to a young child to play with. If you do, please sew on the felt eyes, and don't use the beads. Even better is to leave the eyes off completely.

More Fun and Easy Kids Crafts

Looking for more creative craft ideas to do with the kids? Make sure to check out some of these other popular DIY’s:

How to Make Easy Googly Eye Flower Pots
How to Make Pom Poms with a DIY Cardboard Template
DIY Puzzle Piece Photo Wreath – Step by Step Tutorial

How to Make a Braided Yarn Octopus – Step by Step Instructions