Build An Olaf Kit

Now that the big day has come and gone it’s time to sit back and start winding down from all the holiday stress.  Kids are out of school,  so on top of everything else I have to figure out how to entertain eager (and sometimes unruly) littles.  Oy.  In an effort to curb boredom and keep curious minds at bay I came up with this Build an Olaf kit! This kit is super easy to put together, costs next to nothing and is great for before and after holiday activities.  Thanks to Hefty for sponsoring this adorable craft! Check it out:

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year it’s a pretty safe bet that you have probably seen FROZEN.  Or at least know all the characters and can sing “Let it Go” by heart.  (Or maybe that’s just me.) If nothing else then you at least know who Olaf is, right?  When I was thinking up this craft I was going to do a generic snowman, but since FROZEN is still everyone’s favorite movie I just had to make this into an Olaf snowman craft instead.  How adorable is this?!

For this build an Olaf box you will need:

• foam plates
• Felt in black, white and orange
• Brown construction paper
• Glue runner or glue dots
• pair of scissors
• hole punch
• small amount of yarn
• Medium sized box with a flap lid (I am using an old Kiwicrate box for this)
• Paint or wrapping paper (to decorate the box)
• Printable quote (This is my design and for personal use ONLY. Printing instructions are below.)

This is a two part craft and we are going to start by making the outer box that holds the craft supplies in.  I know you’re probably wondering why go to the trouble of getting crafty with a box, but trust me, the box takes this thing to the next level.  I’m sure you have heard of the monthly box craze that’s been around for the past few years, right?  There are boxes for everything, monthly makeup boxes, clothing boxes, bath product boxes and oodles and oodles of kid related boxes.  We already get Kiwi Crates for each of my kids and I wanted this box to be along the same lines so I am using one of them.  You can use any kind of box you would like, just make sure it isn’t too large and preferably has a top flap.  Once you find the box you want to use go ahead and give it a coat of paint.  Now print out this image by clicking on the photo which takes you to a high quality printable pdf.

Glue it on your box and you’re done.

Now that your box is ready let’s make our snowman!  The main supplies you will need here are a few Hefty foam plates.  I like using them because they are lightweight, strong, and around the holidays pretty much everyone has them around their house (especially if they are doing any kind of entertaining).  Grab three plates and cut our your Olaf body.  For this one I found a still from the movie online, printed it out and traced each piece.  You can do the same, or if you are good at drawing you can freehand it.  Don’t worry about the plates while cutting/tracing because they are really sturdy and will hold up just fine!

In all you will have a head, two square-ish ovals for the body and two legs.  Punch small holes in each piece so that you can attach them together with string when it is time to put this all together.

After you have that cut out you will need to cut arms from the brown construction paper and then two black “buttons”, two eyes, a mouth and one triangle nose from the felt.  For the buttons and eyes I just cut out black circles and then smaller white circles.  For the mouth I traced Olaf’s mouth shape from a piece of paper and the nose was just a triangle.  Once you get all those cut out put them all together in a small snack sack or ziplock bag.

Now grab a second bag and do the same for the body pieces.  Put all that in the box you made along with a small pair of scissors, four pieces of 5-inch yarn and a glue runner.  I also added some crayons in just in case the kids wanted to color on their craft.

Okay seriously?  Ahhhdorable!  So after that just close up your box and get ready for some fun!  When the kids get their hands on it they can do most of it by themselves, but in case you need a run through here you go:

1. Empty the contents of bag #1, tie the body pieces together and cut off the excess.

1. Empty bag #2 and glue it all on with the glue runner.

3. Say hello to your very own Olaf!  (Oh yeah, and he can totally dance too because of the way he is put together.  Just hand it to your kid and watch them swing it from side to side!)