Nibbles the Book Monster

Nibbles the Book Monster is back! Although it’s bedtime and he should be snuggling down to sleep, Nibbles is up to his old tricks and is chomping his way through some firm favourites! As with all these books, die-cut holes allow the reader to peep through the holes that have been nibbled, leading to much fun! Children adore these stories and so when the first book came out, my book group made Nibbles pencil toppers.

Take a length of yellow wool and start wrapping this round a medium sized pom pom maker. You can buy a range of these from very reasonable (I found a pack of 4 different sized ones at the Works for £3.00) to more robust, more expensive versions. You can easily make a card version if needed.

Wrap the wool evenly over the pom pom maker, making sure to cover it well. The thicker the layer of wool, the better the final pom pom will be. Once the pom pom maker is fully covered, cut through the threads all the way around the edge of the circle. Using a separate length of wool, tie tightly around the middle of the pom pom before removing the plastic maker. Fluff the threads out and trim any odd long strands to match the others.

Next, take a fluffy, extra long pipe cleaner and wrap this around the centre on top of the thread tied round the middle. Bend these to look like his arms. Using a glue gun, attach two wobbly eyes to the ball- some of the children I made these with preferred to make eyes from felt and stick these in place like the ones on the Nibbles toy. Cut a length of black pipe cleaner and curve this to make Nibbles’ smile. Stick this in place and add two felt teeth. Finally, cut two short pieces of black pipe cleaner and bend these into ‘v’ shapes. Stick these to the top of Nibbles’ head for his horns.

To make this into a pencil topper, add glue to the rubber end of a pencil and gently push this into the centre of the pom pom. Smaller pom poms lend themselves to longer arms and different sized eyes can give very different expressions.

Children love making these cheeky characters as much as they love the books! You could also make a Nibbles book balloon to hang.

Nibbles The Bedtime Book Emma Yarlett

Little Tiger ISBN: 978-1801042932