Make a Toy: DIY Crinkle Toy Bunny

how to make a toy: bunny crinkle toy

I don’t know what it is, but babies love a crinkle toy! Here’s how to make a toy that your little babe will love.

My son loves to squish and chew on this crinkle toy bunny I made him! Here’s how to make a toy for your babe to drool all over.

Store-bought crinkle toys are cute, but they come with a hefty carbon footprint from being shipped all over the world, and they are most likely made in a factory with questionable labor practices. Instead of spending money on a crinkle toy that doesn’t align with your green crafty values, check out how to make a toy of your own instead! Bonus: homemade toys are not only more ethical, but they cost a fraction of the ones you’d buy at the store.

This crinkle toy is simple to make and totally machine washable in cold water. I do all of our laundry in cold, so I haven’t tried washing this sucker in hot yet. I’m a little worried that hot water might melt the crinkly plastic stuffing.

When I shared a photo of my bunny crinkle toy bunny on Instagram, folks got super excited about it and wanted to know how to make a toy like that for themselves. A few people also asked me where I got the crinkle stuffing. That, my friends, is one of the best parts about this DIY crinkle toy: even the stuffing is reclaimed!

How to Make a Toy

This bunny is one of my son’s favorite toys. Not only does it crinkle, but the ribbon whiskers add a little bit of tag toy goodness, for extra sensory fun! I drew the bunny template on the back of an old credit card offer to conserve paper, and I hope that you’ll print yours out onto the back of junk mail, too!

Materials

  • our Bunny Crinkle Toy Template (pdf)
  • two fabric scraps that are at least as big as the Bunny Template
  • 6 scrap ribbon pieces that are about 4.5″ long
  • sewing machine, thread, pins, iron, scissors
  • clean, used plastic grocery bag – I found that a Target bag worked well for my crinkle toy

Directions

1. Fold over each piece of ribbon by 1/2″ on one of the unfinished edges. Sew the edge down to finish. You can leave the other end of each piece unfinished.

2. Cut out your Bunny Crinkle Toy Template, and cut your Target bag into pieces.

diy crinkle toy stuffing

3. Place your two fabric scraps right sides together, and pin the template on top. Cut out your bunny, and unpin. If you want to add cute little eyes to your bunny, embroider them onto one of your cutouts:

diy crinkle toy eyes[I would not substitute buttons for the eyes, since these can be a choking hazard.]

4. Place one bunny-shaped fabric piece right side up on the table, and lay on your ribbon whiskers. They should look like this:

diy crinkle toy whiskers[See how the finished ends point inwards? When you flip the toy right side out, that will put them outside of your bunny’s face. That might feel counter-intuitive, but it works!]

5. Place the other bunny cutout on top of the first one, right side down, and pin.

6. You’re ready to sew! Stitch allllmmmoosstttt all the way around your bunny, leaving a 2″ opening on the bottom, so that you can flip it right side out and stuff.

7. Flip your bunny right side out, and stuff it full with the plastic bag. You don’t want to overstuff, but I ended up using the whole cut up Target bag. Make sure you get some of the stuffing into the ears, as well.

diy crinkle toy bunny stuffed8. Fold in the unfinished bit of the bunny, then top stitch your toy all the way around to finish.

>>Back to the start!

4 thoughts on “Make a Toy: DIY Crinkle Toy Bunny”

  1. This is a cool way to reuse plastic bags. I’m thinking I could adapt the design and make a toy for my cats (mouse shape, catnip inside). I’m also wondering if I could use a different crinkle material — I’ve been saving old pretzel bags for while now, hoping I could reuse them. (These are the clear plastic ones, fairly thick and definitely noisy.) Do you think if I cut up one of these bags it would work in a small toy like yours?

    1. I think pretzel bags would work great! Just cut them into strips small enough to stuff into the toy.

      Since making this toy, I’ve had to wash it a few times, and it stood up well to the machine. I can’t say whether a pretzel bag will, but I don’t see why not – grocery bags seem like they’re made from flimsier plastic than snack bags.

  2. Pingback: DIY Holiday Gifts for Everyone | Care2 Healthy Living

  3. Pingback: Baby Cape Tutorial from Recycled Felt

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top