
The Olympics provide such a great opportunity to teach children about other countries, which is why I love the international flag sugar cookies from this Olympic-themed party (also check out the Olympic Ring Wreaths on the wall — SO CUTE!) Since the Summer Games are in London this year, I wanted to do something fun with my boys that would help them learn a little more about England.
When we go to visit some day one of the must see things for my boys will be the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Around Christmas time you’ll often see toy soldier ornaments made out of old fashioned clothespins, I knew my boys would love playing with an troop of the clothespin Queen’s Guard soldiers so I decided we should make a bunch.

Begin by painting the top section of the clothespin with red acrylic craft paint.
Let dry then apply a line of tape starting a quarter-inch above the split in the clothespin and overlapping the red painted section. Once tape is secure paint the entire bottom section black. Our local craft store sold little wooden rings that provide the perfect little stand for the clothespins (we found these in the same section as the clothespins). We painted the little stand black as well to create our soldier’s feet. (Of course those little heart boxer shorts on the soldier are totally unnecessary!)

Once the paint is dry cut a piece of white ribbon to glue on as a belt. We used school glue, which is plenty strong, but the trick I learned from a very wise pre-school teacher is to apply the glue then let it stand for a couple minutes to get good and tacky before pressing on. We also used glue to secure the black pom pom hat on our soldiers.

So cute! =)
Wow! So creative and cool. I think my boys would love those. Thanks for sharing.
Darling!!! Just pinned this, and totally want to make these with my boys! Thanks for such a great idea :)
Great! We hope your boys love them as much as mine do. Let us know how they turn out!!
oh i just love these and i have a ton of old fashioned clothes pins. now just a matter of finding those rings to stand them up.
We found the rings next to the clothespins at a local craft store. Let us know how yours turn out!
I used to make these years ago and instead of putting them in a stand, stand them on the branches of your
Christmas tree! The branch fits nicely between the soldier’s legs. They make cute soldiers on your Christmas tree!
Cute idea for the Olympics, ladies!!
Great idea–thanks!