Every child makes their own Orli

Each child makes a squishy Orli from the kit: a balloon of pellet filler, then eyes, gems and pipe cleaners. Try it here, one step at a time.

Make an Orli, step by step

Illustration: an empty sky-blue balloon lying on a round felt mat, with a bag of pellet filler, two stick-on eyes, pipe cleaners and two pink gems laid out beside it. Illustration
  1. Fill, current step
  2. Tie, not done yet
  3. Squish, not done yet
  4. Face, not done yet
  5. Finish, not done yet

A grown-up does this step

Step 1 of 5: Fill the balloon

Press and hold the button to pour in the pellet filler. Let go to pause. Keep going until the bar is full.

  1. Illustration: the sky-blue balloon full of pellet filler, round and heavy, its neck still open.

    1Fill the balloon

    A grown-up does this step.

  2. Illustration: the balloon tied off with a small knot on top, now a round, squishy ball on the felt mat.

    2Tie it off

    A grown-up does this step.

  3. Illustration: the balloon tied off with a small knot on top, now a round, squishy ball on the felt mat.

    3Give it a squish

    The child does this step.

  4. Illustration: the blue ball with two stick-on eyes, a pipe-cleaner smile and two pink gems for cheeks.

    4Give it a face

    The child does this step.

  5. Illustration: the finished Orli, a blue ball with eyes, a smile, pink gem cheeks and a green pipe-cleaner sprout on its knot.

    5Make it their own

    The child does this step.

What’s in the trial box

Everything children need to make their own Orli, for a small group of 5 or a whole class of 30. The kit is free. You just cover postage and packaging.

Seen from above: children’s hands reach in round a pile of Orlis they made from balloons in every colour, with googly eyes, gems, moustaches and pipe-cleaner hair.
Orlis children made in an Orli session.
Two finished Orlis on a map: a yellow balloon with googly eyes, pink gems and a fluffy black moustache, and a green one with googly eyes and a row of gems.
No two Orlis turn out the same.

To make the Orlis

  • Balloons, one per child
  • A sealed bag of pellet filler
  • Googly eyes and stick-on eyes
  • Gems
  • Moustaches
  • Pipe cleaners

An adult fills and ties each balloon.

To use with them

  • Five printed scrapbooks, plus a printable scrapbook for the rest of the class
  • A teacher guide

Bring your own

A laptop and the class board, plus paper and pencils.

Contents are still being finalised.

Get Orli free

Make one on screen, too

In the Orli studio, choose a shape, a colour, a face and a hat. Then save a picture, or download it to 3D print.

Open the studio
The Orli studio: a purple bean Orli in a beanie on its turntable, with the Body, Face, Dress up, Extras and Move tabs beside it.
The Orli studio, made from the one in Orli Schools.