Tiny toys and crafts are all over YouTube. We decided to try making the Tiny unicorn backpack we have seen on the “Alexa DIY & Crafts” YouTube Channel. She makes it look so easy and she is super talented. We could watch her videos for hours.
This is actually a pretty complex project so make sure you set aside about an hour to work on it. Oh, and you need a bit of patience. We made plenty of mistakes so don’t worry if you make mistakes too.
Some of the steps are optional because they are based on how you want your unicorn to look. Feel free to design and decorate your backpack the way you want. You don’t have to follow the video exactly as shown. Each child will want to do their own thing and skill level depends on the age of your child.
The smile on the face of a 5-year old tells you our attempt was a success. It might not look as perfect as the one in the video but kids are happy just getting to make the project and see how it comes out. They aren’t looking for perfection.
Tiny Unicorn Backpack Supplies List
First, we gathered our supplies. This is what we bought or had on hand
- Craft Foam
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Scoring tool
- Pipe cleaner or piping cord
- Glue Gun with glue sticks
- Tacky Glue
- Sparkle stickers
- Markers (Sharpies are great)
- 7″ zipper ($1 each at Walmart)
Tiny Unicorn Backpack Template
Next we printed out the paper unicorn backpack template pattern. The pattern Alexa provided is super small so we made our own version slightly bigger and made into a PDF so you can download and use it too. The template Alexa offers only includes the backpack. We also included the center strip the zipper gets added to, the tiny ears, unicorn horn, straps, and nose piece in our template. Hopefully they are to scale. We aren’t experts in these things but we tried the best we could.
Our tiny unicorn backpack measures finished approximately 3″ tall x 2-1/2″ wide.
Click here to download and print the tiny unicorn backpack template pattern.
Kids even as young as age 5 can easily cut out the paper template, trace it on the craft foam and then cut some of the larger items out of the craft foam.
Tiny Unicorn Backpack Printable Instructions
Follow along with our instructions and use the video as needed. We found the video to be super helpful because we could pause when we needed and rewind to go back to previous steps. We just wanted to give you a kind of printed summary of what the video shows along with some helpful tips.
Prep: Plug in the glue gun to get it warmed up so it is ready to go.
Step 1: A grown up needs to use a scoring tool and ruler to make the fold lines at the base.
Step 2: Cut the side strip piece and then cut out the center area.
Step 3: Place the zipper on this center piece and cut off the excess from either end of the zipper.
Step 4: Use the glue gun to glue the zipper to the center piece. This step was tricky. You have to make sure you don’t get too much glue near the teeth of the zipper or the pull. Otherwise it won’t open or close easily.
Step 5: Glue the main backpack piece and the zipper piece together. Alexa makes it look easy and seamless in the video but we struggled a bit. In the end we did manage to get it all glue together. Watch those fingers because the glue gun gets hot!
Step 6: Glue piping cord or pipe cleaner around the edges. If you are adding a pipe cleaner make sure to add a bit of glue on the tip to cover the metal ends.
Step 7: Cut out the tiny ears. Using a marker, fill in the center with the color of your choice. You may want to add piping around the edges but we skipped this step. Those ears are tiny! (3:53 in video)
Step 8: Cut out the unicorn horn. Decorate as you like. (4:26 in video)
Step 9: Glue the ears and unicorn horn to the top of the backpack (see 4:35 in video for placement)
Step 10: Using a Marker, draw the eyes on the front of the backpack.
Step 11: Using pink paint or a pink marker, lightly add pink to the cheek area. You may skip this step if you don’t want rosy cheeks on your unicorn.
Step 12: Cut out the nose piece and draw 2 dots with a black marker (Sharpies work great). We skipped this step on one of our backpacks. It’s a cute idea but it almost makes it look like you are making a unicorn pig! (5:18 in video)
Step 13: Cut slits in the back of the backpack and add straps. (5:30-6:18 in video)
We hope you had fun with this tiny unicorn backpack project.
Let us know if you would like printed instructions, templates and tips for other YouTube craft videos.
