Silly Billy Book Activity {Book Inspired}

Has your child read Silly Billy  by Anthony Browne yet?  If not, this peg doll book activity is so cute that you just might be inspired to run out and get the book right now.  Kids Activities Blog loves bringing the world of books and kids stories to life with book inspired ideas like this.

Silly Billy

We recently read Silly Billy  by Anthony Browne, a sweet tale about kindness and love.

Billy is worried about all sorts of things, big and small. He stays over at his Grandmother’s house one night and she hands him a collection of worry dolls. She tells Billy to share his concerns with the worry dolls and then he can get a restful night’s sleep. After reading the story, we were inspired to create some peg dolls.

Peg dolls are a classic kid’s craft and they are so fun and simple to make. You don’t need any special items either – just some wooden pegs, some scraps of fabric, some cotton thread, a pen and you’re good to go. There rest is up to your child’s imagination!

Book Activity

To begin, we cut a circle of fabric for the doll’s skirt. We used an upturned cup as our template. After you have cut a large circle of fabric, cut a small hole in the center and thread the wooden peg through the middle.

Book Inspired

Next, we gathered the fabric around the peg and secured it with a little adhesive tape. We then wrapped some cotton thread around the peg and skirt fabric. This holds everything in place and also becomes the doll’s shirt. We secured the end of the cotton by simply tucking the end under one or two strands of the strands of wound cotton. Finally, draw on a face and some hair and you’re done! You can add some ribbon around the doll’s waist for extra decoration if you like.

This activity was great for practicing fine motor skills with winding of the thread and drawing of the face and hair. It also incorporated scissor practise and was a whole lot of fun! you could add all sorts of elements to your dolls – wool or string for the hair and pipe cleaners for arms. You could even paint on some shoes or wind on more cotton thread for the feet. What would you add to your doll?

More Kids Activities

We hope your child enjoys this Silly Billy  craft idea.  Kids love a book activity like this so try to find creative ways to include a related craft or activity in reading time.  For some more book inspired ideas, take a look at these:

• Book Activity for Knuffle Bunny
• The Foot Book {Book Inspired Craft}
• Fun Book Activities for Goldilocks and the Three Bears  
• Check out this Eric Carle inspired cloud craft.

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