Oriental Trading Activities and Crochet Penguin Pouch

Every year around this time I pop on over to OrientalTrading.com to see what they have in stock for the holidays! You can’t beat the wide selection of winter and Christmas themed trinkets, stocking stuffers, and fun little activities that are perfect for school-aged kids. We are getting ready to do a lot of traveling: heading to one side of the country to visit my husbands family and then back to the complete opposite side of the country to be with my family. With all of this air travel, I needed a few tricks up my sleeve and actives in my arsenal to keep my kids busy. I picked up a few fun crafts from Oriental Trading that are portable and come in bulk packs so we always have extras and enough for everyone! Plus, I crocheted a cute little Penguin Pouch to hold everything!

I love these Decorate a Snowman Notepads! Oriental Trading has TONS of other notepad options as well! Check them all out HERE. Notepads make a great classroom holiday party favor and a fun stocking stuffer, too.

The Beaded Candy Cane and Snowflake Ornament are the perfect kid’s crafts that can allow them a project that is hands on and provide some much-needed entertainment.

Another no-mess, easy craft for kids are these Magic Color Scratch Bookmarks. Personalize these bookmarks with a name or scratch a fun design! Your design will appear in a rainbow of color!

Materials:
– Worsted weight yarn. I used Caron Simply Soft in Black and White and a bit of Bright Yellow from the Bernat Super Value line of yarn. Shop all yarn at Yarnspirations.com!
– Size H Crochet Hook
– Two small black buttons for eyes
– Tapestry needle

Penguin Pouch Pattern:

With white yarn..
Chain 21, SC in second chain from hook and the rest of the way down chain, chain 1, turn
Row 2-28: SC in each stitch across, chain 1, turn
Change to black
Row 29-33: SC in each stitch across, chain 1, turn
Row 34: chain 3, DC in first stitch, HDC in next, SC in next 16, HDC in next, DC in last, fasten off
Attach black yarn 7-8 stitches in from right hand side (we are making the nose bridge so it should be centered) SC in next 6, chain 1, turn
SC decrease, SC in next two, SC decrease over last two
SC in each stitch across
SC decrease twice, fasten off weave in ends.
Re-attach yarn on the right hand side of project
Chain 3 and DC in first stitch, HDC in next, SC in next 5 stitches and then up the side of the nose bridge until you get to the top of of the nose bridge, chain 5, skip over the SC decreases at the top of the nose bridge, SC down other the other side of the nose bride and along bottom edge until you get to the last two stitches in the row, HDC in next, DC in last. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Now you have a long crocheted strip. Fold the bottom up so it sits right under the black part of the flap. Then you will want to sew together the white sides with a long piece of yarn and a tapestry needle.

Nose:
With bright yellow…
chain 3, SC in second chain from hook and make 2 SC in last, now working on other side of chain, SC, 2 SC in last, join, chain 1 (6 SC)
Round 2: 2 SC in first, SC in next, repeat around (9 SC)
Round 3: SC in each stitch around, join, fasten off leaving long tail (9 SC)

Sew nose onto top of pouch so the black loop from the top flap of the pouch fits over it.
Sew on two small black buttons for the eyes

Feet (make 2):
Magic ring, chain 2 and make 8 HDC in ring, do not join, pull tight and sew onto bottom of pouch.

Add a black wristlet handle by chaining 40 (or more), slip stitch in second chain from hook and the rest of the way down, sew ends onto corner of pouch.

In addition to holding little trinkets, this pouch fits a cellphone perfectly! Use it as a coin purse and it will hold money, credit cards, kleenex, make up, or whatever else you would want to stuff in there 🙂

Thank you to Oriental Trading for sponsoring this post!