Winter Olympics Crafts ~Make an American Girl Doll Sled

Do we have any Olympic fans in the house? Our family LOVES the Olympics. We are on a countdown for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics to begin. I thought that we needed an American Girl Craft to help get us ready and to get our dolls ready! I had a few Winter Olympics crafts in mind, but time wasn’t on my side. We settled on making sleds for our dolls.

I realize that sledding is not an Olympic sport, however it was the closest we could easily come to Luge, Skeleton or Bobsled. Our dolls are flexible and just like to have fun, so off I set to make some cute sleds for the dolls.

I started by letting both of my girls draw the design they wanted for their sled. My only requirement was that it look somewhat like an Olympic sled would look. We looked at pictures of American Olympic luge sleds and American Olympic bobsleds. They then went to town making their designs. 

Supplies:

• Wooden sled (mine does say “Not a Toy” on the back…ummm, oh well!)
• Paint
• Paintbrush
• Stickers
• Gem stickers
• Scrapbook Paper
• Mod Podge

After my girls designed their sled, I got busy making them come to life. Painting was the first order of business. I used a pencil, ruler, and a compass to get the angles correct. Then I painted. I didn’t tape things off but decided to go for the faster version of trying to be precise and paint carefully. It seems to have worked…Yay!

After giving the paint sufficient time to dry, it was time to add some of the design elements. Snowflake wanted U, S, A, in large letters on her sled. I cut them out with my Cricut and applied them using Mod Podge.

If you use Mod Podge on your sled, make sure you apply a layer of the Mod Podge under the element you are adding. Then seal it with a layer on top.

I also added the stickers down the sides of the sleds. Then I sealed everything with 3 coats of Mod Podge hoping to make the design last with all the play these sleds will see. The Mod Podge also give the sled a slighty shiny and smooth surface, which is really nice for the kids handling it.

Marie Grace and Isabelle have been hoping to go to the Olympics this year. They were the first to find the new sleds out in the snow. They were really excited!

They immediately had to give them a try! They raced down the hill.

Who do you think won?

Before they could begin training for the Winter Olympics, they had to talk to their partner and decide if the sled would really work for their shot at Olympic glory.

Isabelle and McKenna gave this sled a check and decided it was perfect for them.

This is the sled that Snowflake designed. It has all the American colors with a large USA logo on the top and flags and gems down each side. Very American!

Josefina and Marie Grace thought this sled looked perfect for their trip to Sochi. They were so excited and excited that it had some pink along with the familiar red, white and blue.

Pumpkin designed this sled. She wanted pink with the red, white and blue. She also really liked a few raised stickers that I found. I Mod Podged them with the same 3 coats I did on the rest of the sled to seal them. I’m not really sure if they will end up peeling and falling off more quickly or not. I’m hoping that the Mod Podge will help keep them in place and make them a bit more durable for all the play this sled will get.

The dolls are now set and ready to go to the Olympics! They are training hard and excited to have found the perfect sleds to fulfill their Olympic dreams.

Do you have any Winter Olympics crafts in mind? Any Olympic crafts for your dolls? Do tell!

More Olympic Fun!