Little Mermaid Clothespin Dolls ~ Summer Craft

Lay out newspaper or scrap paper to protect your work surface.

Hold clothespin so that the notch is at the side and the flat wooden surface faces up.

Paint on Ariel’s dark green fin. The top of the fin, at Ariel’s waist should be a “V” shape. Let kids get creative if they want to paint fins in different colors. Add a purple seashell top.

For the mermaid’s faces, make tiny details using a fine-tipped brush. Black dots for eyes and a tiny red heart for the mouth. Let dry.

Once dry, add details to the tail like light green scales, and the light green trim at the waist of Ariel’s tail. Let dry.

While drying, print the template and cut two fin pieces from the green craft foam. You will need two fins for each doll.

Remove the paper backing and stick the two fins together, adhesive sides facing each other. Slide the fin into the notched end of the clothespin. This should fit snuggly, but if it doesn’t add a drop of glue and then slide into the notch.

Kids can use different colored craft foam for each mermaid.

Use embroidery floss for hair. Embroidery floss is sold already gathered in bunches. Take a bunch of floss and trim it to 5″ in length. Fold the floss in half, down the center.

Put a dollop of hot glue in the center of the doll’s head and then place the center point of the floss onto the glue. You can glue the sides and back to style the hair. Trim the ends to the desired length.