Yarn Ball Catnip Toys

Now might be a good time for me to look you straight in the face and tell you two things:  I’m a full-blown crazy cat lady and… It’s about to get weird.  If you think you should go, I totally understand.  If you think you should stay and read about homemade cat toys…. ohmygodILOVEYOU!

I’ve had an image of little kittens playing with yarn balls running through my head ever since my grandmother bought me on of those cat-a-month calendars when I was a little girl.  I’ll pretend I don’t still have one of those calendars, for sanity’s sake.

It turns out that making homemade cat yarn ball toys is totally easy!  Cat calendar here we come!!!

All we’ll need are styrofoam balls, catnip, an excessive amount of yarn, and a good wrapping sense.

Just the making of these toys felt like heaven to my cat.  He was certain I’d portioned out this bowl of catnip as his afternoon snack.  He was also certain that all the strands of yarn being pulled and wrapped were for his pouncing pleasure.  He was mostly right.

Ps.  If you’re as cat crazy as I am, you’ll definitely want to check out the homemade Crunchy Tuna Cat Treats on Design Sponge.  If you’re smitten with the cat treat jars above… they’re exactly what you think they are:  mason jars, cat figurines, hot glue, and spray paint.

It all start with styrofoam balls.  Golf ball size is great.

I also chose some larger balls because I thought that tempting my cat with giant balls would be funny.  I find that he mostly plays with the golf ball size yarn balls.

Balls are lightly painted with Mod Podge and coated in dried catnip.

It’s best to allow the catnip and glue to dry slightly, just so your hands won’t be a sticky mess when wrapping the balls.

In the meantime, heat up the glue gun and organize yarn colors.

Press a bit of hot glue onto the catnip ball, press yarn into the glue and start wrapping!

It doesn’t have to be perfect, especially for the initial yarn wrapping.  Work in one direction for a few turns, then have the yarn switch directions and angles to hit another space on the catnip ball.

After glueing the initial pieces of yarn, you won’t need much hot glue.  The yarn can be wrapped and tucked inside of itself for securing.

I also think it’s satisfying for my cat to slowly unravel the yarn ball.  He’s a destroyer of things.

These fur legs.

Just after this picture was taken, this cat flew into a yarn ball frenzy.

Yarn a-plenty.  Yarn a-everywhere.  He’s cute, but I actually live with a monster.  It’s sometimes scary.  Is that normal?  (Don’t answer that…)

Note:  keep an eye on your cat when they play with these yarn balls.  Cats shouldn’t swallow string.  Actually, no one should swallow string.

Immeasurable help on this post from Love and Cupcakes.