Explore new mediums, recycle old plastic containers, and use STEAM concepts with this pretend play hamster cage project (complete with a DIY needle-felted hamster!)...
I don’t know about you, but I vividly remember hitting a period of my childhood when everyone I knew had a pet hamster. We were a fish-only family (with the exception of a less-than-cuddly, short-lived hermit crab) and I was incredibly jealous of my besties, with their assortments of small furry friends.
The VSPs (Very Smart Parents) were one step ahead of me of course, because had I known all that went into hamster care, I probably would have tapped out from day one.
Although they can be wonderful pets, it didn’t take long for friends to rack up stories of hamster escapes, weird tales of nocturnal disturbances, and hamster-on-hamster violence (you do NOT want to know).
If your little ones have been begging for an animal of their own, here’s a DIY pet play project that can help you introduce basic pet care (while buying you a bit of time!). Even better, it incorporates some STEAM-building, art medium exploration, and imaginative dramatic play.
For more recycled kids’ pet play, visit our cardboard play bunny hutch and cardboard box play pet aquarium tutorial (one of our most popular DIYs!).
To make your own DIY felted hamster and play hamster cage you’ll need:
Note: We prefer to shop locally or use what we have at home, but this list contains Woodpeckers Crafts, Etsy, Blick Art Materials, Bookshop.org and/or Amazon affiliate links for reference. As affiliates (and Amazon Associates), we make a small commission on qualifying purchases.*
FELTED HAMSTER SUPPLIES:
- Wool roving in assorted colors like this (I used brown, cream, black, and pink)
- A Needle-felting needle (like these)
- A Needle-felting pad (like this)
- A pom pom or felted ball
FELTED HAMSTER SUPPLIES:
HAMSTER CAGE SUPPLIES:
- Recycled plastic containers
- Recycled water bottles
- An X-Acto knife
- Washi tape for decoration
- Shredded paper
How to Make a Felted Hamster and Play Hamster Cage – DIY Instructions:
Gather the recycled supplies for your play hamster cage.
Despite our best efforts, we always manage to end up with some plastic produce boxes in our recycling bin by the end of the week. Hang on to a few of those, because they work PERFECTLY for a hamster cage.
Plastic water bottles are also something to keep an eye out for because they’re the supply we used to make the tubes that connect our hamster home.
Use an X-Acto knife to cut the plastic containers.
Knowing we wanted to connect a few square containers with plastic tubes, we started by cutting both ends off of a couple of plastic water bottles with an X-Acto knife.
Use a permanent marker to trace a circle on the side or top of your square plastic containers (trace around the side of the water bottle you’ll be inserting). Use an X-Acto knife to cut out the circle, then push in one end of the water bottle tube. Repeat this process anywhere you want to connect two containers with a tube.
Add decoration and recycled DIY accessories.
Beyond the fun of building the hamster cage, there is quite a bit of delight to be had in creating small accessories to add to your hamster home. A food bowl, hamster wheel, water drip, shredded paper “bedding”, hamster toys…use your imagination to repurpose household supplies into little play hamster cage accessories!
You can also paint or decorate your cage to make it your own. We wrapped some colorful pieces of washi tape around the tubes and plan on making a little sign for our hamster home.
Make a needle-felted hamster.
So you have a hamster cage, now all you need is the hamster! I used this needle-felted mouse tutorial on YouTube as a guide when creating our needle-felted hamster.
And that’s it! Your pretend play hamster is ready for entertainment!
For more simple fabric animal friends, try making an easy upcycled crab plush or a sleepy felt baby dragon.
*A note about affiliate links: We strive to use simple, earth-friendly supplies that can be purchased locally whenever we can, but sometimes we find the best universally available options, a rare eco-friendly find, or a niche product only available on Blick Art Materials, Amazon, Etsy, or Woodpeckers Crafts. When included in our supply list, these products are affiliate links, and if you click through to make a purchase we receive a small commission that helps us re-order these supplies!
GETTING READY TO TRY this?
I love seeing all the ways people make these ideas their own! If you're sharing the results of one of our projects, mention or tag me with @barleyandbirch, or share it in the comments of one of our Pinterest project pins.
