Total Time 30 minutes or less Ages school-age
Inspired by the movie: High School Musical
East High's cheerleaders play a key role in inspiring Troy Bolton, Chad Danforth, and all the other basketball players to stay on their game. Attaching a pair of miniature pep rally pompoms to a keychain or clipping them to a backpack or spiral notebook is a fun way for kids to display their team spirit.
by Cindy Littlefield
What you'll need
- Pencil
- Jar lid (or another round object) about 3 inches wide
- Thin cardboard (a panel from a cereal or tissue box works well)
- A quarter
- Cotton yarn to match your childs school colors
- Tape measure
- Scissors
- Wooden kitchen skewer
- Key ring
How to make it
1. Trace around the jar lid onto the thin cardboard two times and cut out the circles. Then place the quarter on the center of each circle and trace around it. Cut out the center circles to create a pair of doughnut-shaped rings. It's easier to do this if you fold each circle in half, as shown.
2. Cut eight 2-yard lengths of yarn (four from each of the two colors). Gather the strands in a bunch and loosely knot them together at one end.
3. Stack the two cardboard rings and wrap the bunched yarn around them, as shown, passing the knot through the center hole.
4. When the ring is completely wrapped and you've reached the end of the yarn, snip off the knot. Then insert the tips of the scissors between the two cardboard layers and cut the yarn all the way around.
5. Cut an 18-inch length of yarn and slip the mid portion between the cardboard rings. Tightly wind the yarn ends around the center of the pompom. Then tie the ends together and trim them.
6. Remove the cardboard rings from the yarn and plump your pompom. Use the rings and more yarn to create a second pompom.
7. Next, gather three 18-inch lengths of yarn in a bunch and knot one end. Braid the strands and tie another knot at the bottom.
8. Attach a pompom to each end of the braid by using the flat tip of a kitchen skewer to push the knot through the pompom center.
9. Pull the braid through the keyring in a loop.
10. Feed the pom-poms through the loop and pull it tight to secure the braid to the keyring.
