I had to try. Pom poms are the perfect combination of uselessness and frivolity that I look for in a craft (time-waster). Plus, pom poms evoke the sweetness of sixth grade when my friends and I twirled yarn on forks and glued on google eyes to make pom pom creatures that lived inside our desks.

I followed the instructions at the Mr. Printables blog. But make sure to review the Mr. P instructions for making flower pom poms first–they include the basic steps you’ll need.

I also made some regular pom poms.

Then I gave them to my favorite middle schoolers to live inside their desks.