Pipe Cleaner Butterflies Craft for Kids
Get the kids involved with this butterfly craft and have them make some pipe cleaner animals. With inexpensive pipe cleaners and beads, you can create many variations of this Pipe Cleaner Butterflies Craft for Kids. Once kids learn how to make butterflies, they just might want to branch out and make to dragonflies, too. Pipe cleaner crafts for kids are appropriate for all ages and a stress-free activity for care-takers. Buy a big bag and have kids make a ton of different animals. Who knows - they might create a whole zoo before their done.
One of the best things about making pipe cleaner crafts with kids is that they are perfect for helping kids work on their fine motor skills. In order to bend and shape pipe cleaners, kids must concentrate on the task at hand. This can teach them the valuable skill of patience. Plus, the three-dimensional creation they made allows them to play pretend afterwards.
Materials List
- 3 glitter pipe cleaners
- 5 pony beads
- 2 larger beads or buttons
Instructions
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Make the body: Fold a pipe cleaner in half. Fold up the folded end up a bit so the beads won’t pass through.
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Place 5 pony beads on through both ends of the pipe cleaner.
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Place the larger bead, or button on to form the head. Push all the beads to the bottom (folded end) of the pipe cleaners.
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Form the 2 ends of the pipe cleaner into spirals to form the antennae.
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Make the wings: Form one pipe cleaner into a circle. Twist the ends together, but leave 1 inch at the end for attaching it to the body of the insect. Then twist the circle together in the center to for a figure “8”. Do that with the remaining pipe cleaner as well.
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Attach to the body, between the head and the next bead, by twisting the 1 inch protruding ends of the pipe cleaners around the body of the insect. Reshape the wings and antennae.
Free Craft Video Tutorial: How To Make a Pipe Cleaner Butterfly
Old-Fashioned Pipe Cleaners vs Pipe Cleaner Crafts Supplies
It might not come as a surprise, considering their name, but pipe cleaners were originally created to clean out smoking pipes. Their long and pliable structure allowed cleaners get into the crevices of soiled pipes in order to clean them out thoroughly. Though they were originally designed for pipes, these products were later applied to cleaning other supplies out in need of the pipe cleaners’ dexterity like medical devices or other equipment.
It was not until much later in their lifespan that pipe cleaner crafts became popular. Pipe cleaner crafts are made with a new type of pipe cleaner known as chenille stems. These stems are much easier to bend, much safer, and much softer. This new type of crafting pipe cleaner makes them safe for little hands. These crafty versions are longer and thicker than then predecessors and are generally made out of polyester or neon. This means, unfortunately, that craft pipe cleaners are not very good cleaning supplies. Their texture does not absorb water and their shape is often too big to scrub a piper properly.