DIY Stuffed Animal Chair – recycle your plush toys!

A plush stuffed animal chair? What?! Yes, you heard that correctly – you can make something way better than a bean bag chair using all of those limited edition plushies you’ve got laying around! And…you can make a smaller one or larger sizes if you’ve got a lot of stuffed animals.

My kids are older now and they don’t want stuffed animals on their beds so I noticed that they were shoving them into the bottom of their closets and I thought that there must be a better way to deal with this collection. After a leisurely scroll on Pinterest, I found many genius ways to re-use and recycle stuffed animals.

What do you need to make a stuffed animal chair?

The fun part about this project is that you can use mostly things you already have! You need:

Stuffed animals

Chair that has a wire frame

Zip ties

Scissors

Yes, that is it! You don’t need anything else to do this successfully!

Want more fun crafts like this?! Check out this tutorial on making lazy susans here.

 

using zip ties to attach the stuffed animals
I mostly used white zip ties but also used red and black because I ran out of white

What can I make with all of my stuffed animals?

Here we are sorting our stuffed animals
removing cushion from the wire framed chair
I removed the cushion from the wire framed chair
making the stuffed animal chair
We worked together on the plush chair
use a zip tie to attach the stuffed animal
Snip off the the extra from the zip tie
Snip off the the extra from the zip tie
Little by little our stuffed animal chair filled in
Little by little our chair filled in

A plush chair!

  1. Gather all of your plushies and sort them by thickness/hardness. You won’t want to put any stuffed animals on your chair that contain hard pieces – we decided to save these for the back of the chair. You will also want to sort them by flatness – yes, flatness – the flattest stuffed animals work best on the seat cushion.
  2. Once you have assessed everything you need to make your chair, begin connecting each individual stuffed animal using a zip tie. Try to use the zip tie in a discreet location. The zip ties are very strong and if used properly can hold the stuffed animals in place forever. Once you’re happy with the placement, cut off any excess plastic from the zip tie.
  3. Keep going until the entire chair is completely covered in plushies. I personally think it is fun if you do the front and the back.
  4. Enjoy your new chair!
almost there! Adding stuffed animals to our chair.
almost there! Adding stuffed animals to our chair.

Our chair ended up looking like a beanbag chair on a pedestal – we love it and it looks so cool in my son’s room. Had my kids been little when we made this project, I might have used it as an infant plush seat to take baby pictures! The good news is that while I no longer have babies, my dog seems to really love it.

I think this is a much better way to utilize animal storage without breaking the bank. A good friend of mine has a stuffed animal “zoo” which is adorable but very expensive.

Could you make your stuffed animal chair differently?

Yes! You could cut a pattern piece and create your own chair, but that seemed unnecessary to me when there are so many great options either at home or at a thrift store.

Another creative idea I saw was a chair made all of the exact same stuffed animals. I loved the way it looks but didn’t seem as recycled unless there was a stuffed animal factory giving away all of their stuffed animals! Unlikely but definitely possible!

no one liked my stuffed animal chair as much as my puppy!
no one liked my stuffed animal chair as much as my puppy!

Want more fun crafts like this?! Check out this tutorial on making lazy susans here.