They’re found in most craft caddies around the country, so we’ve come up with five fun ways to completely transform the humble pom pom. From tasty-looking faux treats and snacks to wearable accessories, kids will not only have fun, they’ll also learn loads about creativity and hone their fine motor skills as they try their hand at these DIY pom pom craft projects.

A Pom Pom Ice Cream That Never Melts

This DIY pom pom ice cream will never melt – and it’s incredibly easy to make.

The only thing better than the real deal: a DIY version of the classic sweet treat. This is a fantastic project for kids to work on everything from planning and construction to scissor skills, dexterity and more.

Step One: Cut out a template for your ice cream cone from a piece of cardboard. A triangle with a rounded edge works well.

Step Two: Roll the piece of cardboard, pinching the pointed end as you go, making a cone shape. Seal with some warm glue and press for a few seconds.

Step Three: Glue your white pom poms together, starting with a circle as a base, to form a ‘scoop’. Finish with a red pom pom as a cherry on top.

Step Four: Press your ice cream scoop into the cone, securing it with a little glue around the inside edge of your cone.

Step Five: Add some detailing to your cone, like a crisscross pattern to give it a ‘waffle cone’ finish.

What You'll Need

Discover all the items you need for your DIY pom pom craft project.

A Non-Prickly Pom Pom Cactus

Make a non-spiky cactus with this DIY pom pom craft project idea.

Did you know... While the prickly cactus family is mainly native to North and South America – from right down in Chile to all the way up in Canada – one species is also found in Africa and Sri Lanka.

With a little creativity (and glue!), pom poms can quickly become a cool cactus. Taking inspiration from nature, kids can create their own little soft succulents and even use some items from the recycling box at home too.

Step One: Glue some green pom poms together, using a bigger one on the base. Cacti often grow in interesting shapes, so make them a little bit uneven.

Step Two: Add some smaller red, yellow or pink pom poms to the edges to represent the pretty flowers often seen on cacti.

Step Three: Cut out a small section of an egg carton to act as a pot for your cactus. Coat the inside edge with some glue, then press in your plant. Allow it to dry and that’s it – a succulent that needs even less water than a real one!

What You'll Need

Discover all the items you need for your DIY pom pom craft project.

SEE ALSO: 5 Fun DIY Paper Plate Crafts

A Dazzling Pom Pom Crown

This is a craft project that goes the distance: kids can don this headband over and over (and it’s perfect to wear during yet another viewing of Frozen). A great project for flexing those fine motor skills, it will have them bending, twisting and engineering a strong foundation before adding their decoration pom pom ‘gems’.

Step One: Take three pipe cleaners and plait them together. Repeat with another three so you are left with two strong lengths. Bigger kids may need to repeat this step a third time.

Step Two: Take the two (or three) plaited strands and twist together to form a circle.

Step Three: Pinch one of the joins, gently pull it upwards and press down on both sides of it to create a pointed peak.

Step Four: Glue your multicoloured pom pom ‘gems’ along each side of this peak to give the headband a fancy royal feel – you can even add a bigger, glittery pom pom at the point.

What You'll Need

Discover all the items you need for your DIY pom pom craft project.

SEE ALSO: 4 Construction Activities for Kids Who Love to Build

The Pom Pom Surprise Popper

A DIY pom pom party popper is a less messy version of confetti for your next celebration.

What better way to celebrate than with a POP and a whole lot of pom poms flying everywhere. They’re easier to pick up than confetti, plus kids can reuse them multiple times for birthday parties, at weddings or even just to celebrate the end of the school day.

Step One: Paint the cardboard roll, or wrap it in coloured paper and seal using a glue stick, to give some initial colour.

Step Two: Cut out a circle of cardboard that will fit into the base of your cardboard roll, and make a small incision in the middle using scissors.

Step Three: Slide a popsicle stick into the incision and fit the cardboard into the roll. This will become the panel that pushes out your pom poms.

Step Four: Decorate your cardboard roll. Try a “pop” theme by cutting out small cardboard circles and gluing them onto the front.

Step Five: The final step is filling it with pom poms! Then, as you push the popsicle stick upwards, the pom poms will go flying. To do it again, simply refill the roll with pom poms.

What You'll Need

Discover all the items you need for your DIY pom pom craft project.

SEE ALSO: 5 Fun Glue Gun Crafts to Try

A Platter of Pom Pom Sushi

This DIY pom pom sushi is great for kids who love to pretend they run a restaurant.

Did you know... Now eaten all over the world, sushi became a success as Japan’s fast food treat, starting way back in the 1800s when a street vendor had the idea to top lumps of vinegared rice with freshly-caught fish slices. Also, the word sushi refers to the rice and that’s why you can put anything on – or in – the rice and still call it sushi!

If your child loves kitchen play, these little craft sushi pieces are easy to make and hold their shape well, so they can serve up plenty of the delicious morsels as they re-enact a restaurant scene with their friends.

Step One: Cut out a thin strip of black paper, around three centimetres wide, from the end of a piece of A4 paper.

Step Two: Cut that strip into two pieces. These will become the ‘seaweed’ sheets you wrap around your sushi.

Step Three: Roll your pieces into a tube shape and seal the edges using a glue stick. Press firmly until it holds in place.

Step Four: Push mini white pom poms into your tube, smearing a little glue on each before pressing in to keep them stuck together.

Step Five: Add a coloured pom pom in the middle as your ‘salmon’ or ‘cucumber’ element. Get creative with the pretend flavours of your sushi!

What You'll Need

Discover all the items you need for your DIY pom pom craft project.

Download these projects as a PDF