Felted Wool Ball Acorns: A Simple and Adorable Fall DIY

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Felted wool ball acorns are a simple and fun fall craft. These sweet custom-made acorns are easy to assemble using pre-made wool balls and acorn caps. Cluster them together in a wooden bowl, add a string to hang them up, or make an attractive felt acorn garland. This is a must-make fall DIY.

I have a love of acorns. Walking through the woods in the fall is an exercise for bringing home the prettiest, saturated leaves and pockets full of acorns! And I recently found another acorn love, felted wool ball acorns. These are part real acorns and part little balls of wool! Just so absolutely sweet and easy to make, too. In fact, you can make a whole bowlful of them in about 30 minutes!

There is no wet felting method associated with these felted wood ball acorns. No wool roving, needle felting, or special wool ball kits. These darling DIY felt acorns are so much easier! They are made with wool balls that are already made. Even if you are not crafty, you will be a pro at making these!

The Anatomy Of A Real Acorn

An acorn is the fruit of an oak tree.

The hat or top of an acorn is called a cupule, meaning a cup of scales. The body of an acorn is the nut, and the little pointed tip on an acorn is called the remains of style. For this post, we will call the cupule the top or cap and the nut the body.

What You Will Need

How To Make Felted Wool Ball Acorns

This easy fall DIY is a bit addictive and will be one of your favorite fall crafts! Let’s get started…

Remove The Caps From The Acorns

If you use faux acorns, there is a little trick for removing their real tops.

The acorn’s body has a thin plastic shell and spongy styrofoam inside. Lay the acorns on a hard surface on their sides. Press with your thumbnail where the acorn top and the body meet. The faux acorn body should collapse under pressure, and then you can pull the top and the body apart.

You will probably find hot glue in the top, but you don’t have to clean it out. The hot glue in the acorn tops will melt down when you add more hot glue later.

Discard any tops that have any cracked sections.

Making More Elongated Wool Acorns

You can use the wool felt pom-pom balls just as they are—cute and round. They will make adorable chubby acorns. Or you can make them a bit more elliptical-shaped. I made both.

The image below shows the elongated wool ball.

To make the felted round felt balls slightly more elliptical, lightly wet your hands with warm water and rub the wool ball between your palms until you get the desired effect. The friction, warmth, and moisture will gently shape the ball. Set the balls aside and let them dry. If your wool ball gets too wet, roll it in a paper towel to remove excess water.

Below are both acorns. The chubby round and elongated acorns look so sweet together, so make both.

Attach The Acorn Tops To the Wool Bodies

Before you glue the acorn’s body and cap together, make sure any elongated felt balls are completely dry.

Put a good amount of glue in the acorn’s cap so it comes in contact with the wool balls. Use the tip of your hot glue gun to run a little glue around the inside edge of the caps. Put a wool ball on top and hold it upright, lightly pressing down. If the wool ball does not adhere, you probably need more glue.

Let The Wool Acorns Dry

It only takes a minute or two for the hot glue to dry. Be patient, and you will be rewarded with darling wooly acorns to use in your fall home.

Ways To Decorate With Felted Wool Ball Acorns

Details are important when we decorate. And these interesting little acorns are certainly a delightful detail!

Make A Twine Hanger For Wool Ball Acorns

Grab a length of twine to make a loop hanger. I used baker’s twine. I used a rubber mat to glue on and keep the ends of the wine together.

Using a toothpick, I put the tiniest glue dot on the twine’s ends so they stuck together. Then, I added a drop of glue to the top of the acorn cap in the back of the stem and adhered the twine ends to the acorn. I pressed the other end of the toothpick to the twine to make sure it made good contact with the acorn cap.

Gently pull off any stray hot glue spider webs.

You can also use Gorilla Glue Super Glue.

Glue Acorns To Branches

Use these adorable acorns to embellish fall branches—how fun! I hot-glued them to faux oak branches I have in a big urn. Because acorns are the fruit of the oak tree, find a great real or faux oak branch to glue these wooly acorns on.

How To Clean And Debug Real Acorns

If you want to use real acorns in your decor or just the acorn tops to make your wool ball acorns, you should debug them. Here’s how…

1. Inspect the acorns carefully. Discard any with cracks or holes.
2. Put the acorns in a bowl of water and rinse them well. Use a brush to scrub them of dirt, larvae, or other debris.
3. Let them dry completely on paper towels.
4. Preheat the oven to 170° Fahrenheit (79 ° Celsius). Place the acorns on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, with the door cracked to let out any moisture. This helps the acorns dry.
5. Turn every 30 minutes so they will not burn on one side.
6. Cool on a wire rack.
7. When the acorns are completely dry, remove the tops.

Let’s celebrate the wonder and beauty of fall by making these funny, chic, adorable felted wool ball acorns.

Happy Fall Decorating!