How to Make a Towel Animal: Monkey

Mr. Monkey is a little more challenging than the towel animal elephant, but if I can do it then so can you.

You will need:

1 Bath sheet (I used a regular bath towel, but my monkey isn’t as long as he needs to be because of it)
1 Hand towel
safety pins

Lay the bath sheet (regular towel if you are cheating like me) out horizontally

and roll both edges toward the center

Bend the rolled-up towel in the middle so that the rolls face outward

Find the towel corners contained in each roll and tug them out a little

Now for the somewhat tricky part. Take two opposite corners in each hand and pull outward like you are spreading your arms wide

The rolls will tighten and twist as you pull which forms the monkey’s arms and legs

At this point I went ahead and used safety pins to attach the monkey’s arms to a coat hanger. You can also attach him to a shower curtain rod or doorknob or adjust him so he’s sitting on the bed or couch.

Adjust the center portion until the body looks like you like

Now you’re ready to work on the head. Lay the hand towel out flat

Then fold in half

Roll the towel diagonally from the bottom/left and top/right corners until they meet in the middle

Holding the rolls in one hand so they don’t unroll, use your other hand to roll the bottom point toward the top points.

Flip the shape over

Peel the top layer of the point backward to cover the shape and form the mouth so that the front of the head looks like this

All the loose ends are tucked in the rolled portion of the head and the points are secured using a safety pin.

Arrange the head onto the body. You may or may not need to pin it there depending on where you position your monkey. I added a couple of scrapbooking stickers (letter “o’s” ) for eyes  instead of sunglasses.

Maybe one day I’ll have nice new towels that match so my monkey’s head isn’t a different color than his body.