Children love small toys to play with, collect or carry with them in their backpacks or pockets. You can easily create many different types. Animals, people, toys in any fabric whether plain or colored, cut, stuff with beans or poly-fill, sew and add faces and detailing with embroidery or fabric paint. Then how to make stuffed bear or bunny plush toy animals?

Use any picture from old magazines, books, etc. Look for pictures that have rounded edges or round them as you cut. Do not use pictures that will require a lot of attachments. As much as possible try to cut in one piece, only add ears, perhaps bunny puff tail.

You can make the picture larger or smaller using a photocopier to enlarge or by squaring off with 1 inch squares using a ruler. Then on larger paper, make 2 inch squares and draw the picture into the larger squares copying from the smaller picture. Square off the picture or place on a window with graph over top and trace the picture outline. The same applies to make the picture smaller. Use 1/2 inch squares or as big or as small as you wish.

For each stuffed toy animal, cut two identical pieces, front and back. Remember, you will need at least 1/4 inch extra for the seam. Place the two material pieces right side together and sew seam. Bind the seam edges to keep it from unraveling.

At this point, you can either stuff with beans or use polyester filling. If you fill with beans, be careful not to overstuff. You will want your stuffed toy online to be squishy. If you fill with stuffing, use the eraser end of a pencil to push the stuffing into corners, ears, etc.

Fold the edges in of the remaining seam and sew shut. A face or other detailing can be embroidered or painted on with fabric paint. You can also use small buttons for eyes, yarn for whiskers or hair, pom pom for hair or tail. Again, remember that these add-ons can be very dangerous for children or for animals as they are a choking hazard.