Going Stir Crazy? Try Out These DIY Chia Pets!

This is a fun gardening activity/craft to do with your kids when it’s too cold to play outside. You can call them dirt babies, plant people, or whatever cute name your kids come up with.

The idea is make your own chia pet using grass seed, soil and pantyhose. The seeds will grow through the pantyhose and look like hair.

Here’s what you’ll need to make a dirt baby:

• A pair of pantyhose
• Scissors
• Smallest bag of potting mix (not potting soil or topsoil or soil from your yard)
• Smallest bag of grass seed (any kind of lawn grass seed will work)
• Glue gun & glue sticks
• Miscellaneous craft items, like googly eyes, felt, markers, etc. they want to make the face with
• A cup to set your dirt baby in to keep it watered (9oz clear plastic cups work great)

Once you’ve collected all of the materials, make sure you have an area to do this where you don’t mind a little soil and grass seed falling onto. 

Here are the directions:

1. Plugin the glue gun so it’s ready by the time you reach step 5.
2. Cut a section of the pantyhose about 8 inches long. You’ll want to tie one end off, then turn it inside out. 
3. Now pour a tablespoon of grass seed in your pantyhose.
4. Fill the rest of the space up with a potting mix. Tie off the open end of the pantyhose and use your hands to gently form the pantyhose into a head shape. 
5. Place the dirt baby in the clear plastic cup, making sure the grass seed is on the top. Start gluing googly eyes, a mouth, a nose, arms, and feet to the dirt baby. (Chenille sticks work great for arms) Your little one can also use a marker to draw these facial features on the pantyhose if you want to forego the craft items and glue gun. 
6. Once the glue is cooled down and completely dry, slowly pour water all over your dirt baby. You want to make sure it’s thoroughly moist. You can even leave the excess water in the cup since the potting mix will soak it up when needed. 
7. Check your dirt baby every day to make sure it’s completely moist. It will take about a week to germinate. Once the grass germinates, let the top half dry out between watering. 
8. Enjoy!