These Colorful Corn Husk Dolls are the perfect craft for Thanksgiving. They are quite easy to make and provide lots of entertainment for the kids.
Supplies Needed:
- 8 pieces of corn husks
- Fabric Dye – I used a tye die kit I had sitting around, and mixed colors to get fall colors – orange, yellow, red, and so on…
Tip** Unless you are fortunate enough to have a great ethnic food section at your supermarket, Order these tamale wrappers in advance!
*If you can’t find corn husks, buy a set of Indian Corn & use the corn husks from those. I’ve used them in a jam & they work just the same. I’ve also used the corn from the corn stalks used in Fall Decorations.
Instructions:
- Warning-This is a wet craft and messy. Make sure your surface is protected from all of the water and fabric dye.
- Before you get started-put the husks in the dye for at least an hour. If you can leave them in the dye for a day, the color will be more brilliant!
- Once your husks have soaked. Pick 8 husks to make your doll.
- It helps if the husk that you tear for the tying portion is wet – it makes it more pliable – but it is not necessary. To avoid stained surfaces and hands – You can completely dry the husks first. The dolls in the display picture were made from dry husks.
Tips on which you pick.
- Get ones that are about 2 inches wide at the bottom (the end that’s not pointed)
- Try to get ones that are similar in length, because you’ll be stacking them up together
- Don’t worry about getting perfect ones, you’ll end up tearing them in a later step
- Stack 6 of your husks – matching the ends up with all of the pointed ends to one side and the wide straight ends on the other. Use, your best and widest pieces to stack.
- With one of your remaining two husks (your longest one) – tear one of them into thin strips – which will act as your ribbons to tie the arms, and clothes
- Use one of your thin strips to tie your stacked-6 husks together, about an inch from the top. The top is the pointed part of the husks-narrow end.
- Now at the larger ends-the part that has not been tied-split the 6 in half, and fold it over the tied portion of the husks. -You are forming the head of the doll.
- Tie the folded over husks, about an inch down. This will form the head.
- Arms.-Take your last corn husk that is sitting on the side, and roll it up to form a long tube. Tie both ends with your thin strips of husk.
- Slide this arm/tube into the split of the dress, (the middle part of the stack of 6) all the way up to the head.
- Tie around the dress, just under the arms, to keep them in place.
Making the dress Fancy – OR – making this doll into a BOY Doll!
- Now you are almost done!
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- Girl Dolls – Start at the bottom of the dress, and start tearing the husks into tiny strips. As the dress dries it will get fluffy from all of the strips. The more you tear, the fluffier the dress will be.
- Boy Dolls – Don’t tear the husks. Divide the dress into legs, and tie with husk strips at the bottom of each leg to secure.
Trim anything that needs it! If they are wet, let them dry for a day. Enjoy:)
***Depending on the age of kids – you can modify the hands-on for your kids
- Your younger kids should only do the last couple of stages. Or if parents are attending the party have this as a parent/child activity! Older kids can do the whole doll.
- Have plastic bags ready to carry these home in. They will be wet.
- Have a paper towel on hand
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