My son is a cub scout, so our family is no stranger to the Pinewood Derby. My daughter, while not a scout, also participates since siblings are invited to make a car for the annual race. This year she wanted to make a unicorn-themed car, and I had so much fun helping her put it together.
Before we started, I set her up on Pinterest to peruse design ideas. There were a couple of things that inspired us, but there were surprisingly few pins that showed up. So for those of you looking for a cute but simple Unicorn Pinewood Derby design, I thought I’d share ours.
UNICORN PINEWOOD DERBY CAR: THE SUPPLIES
- Color Shift Paint from FolkArt for bright color with an iridescent sheen (from Michael’s craft store)
- Fabric crafting/scrapbooking flowers (from Michael’s)
- 3 colors of Craft Smart Polymer Clay (from Michael’s)
- Glue Gun
- Fake Dress-Up Hair Headband (from Dollar Tree); you could also use hair from a doll your child no longer plays with, or grab one cheap from a thrift store
- Fine-tipped black Sharpie
UNICORN PINEWOOD DERBY CAR: THE PROCESS
First, I drew the shape of a horse and cut the block.
My daughter sanded and painted the body on her own. We ultimately did two coats.
Next, we worked on the horn and ears. My daughter rolled a piece of each of the three clay colors into a thin strip that tapered slightly at one end. I helped her twist them together into a unicorn horn. (Make sure you are aware of the car height limitation and that your horn does not extend too high.)
Then she rolled out flat pieces of turquoise and pink clay. I cut them into the proper shapes and assembled them into ears. We baked all the clay pieces according to the package directions. (Note: Clay will not be hard after baking. It will harden as it cools. Resist the temptation to over-bake as your final result may be brittle.)
We affixed the ears and horn with a glue gun. Then we cut a section of hair from the dress-up headband and glued a mane. We covered all the visible glue by gluing on a crown of flowers.
We glued another section of fake hair as the tail and prettied it up with another flower.
We finished off the car by drawing on eyes with a Sharpie (tip: Use a fine-tipped Sharpie.)
I’m not sure how our Unicorn Pinewood Derby car will do in the race, but she sure is pretty!
