Fun Monkey Craft: Pipe Cleaner Monkeys

Here’s a fun monkey craft for kids of all ages!  Grab some pipe cleaners and some wooden beads and transform them into a cute posable monkey.  The monkey can even hang onto a pencil!

I don’t know what it is about monkeys, but I have always loved them and the kids do too!

Here’s what you need to make a pipe cleaner monkey:

• Brown pipe cleaners – 3 per monkey
• Wooden beads
• Googly eyes
• Hot glue http://everfreecoloring.com
• Brown felt
• Brown and tan acrylic paint
• Yellow pipe cleaners – for bananas

These are the wooden beads we used.  Both sizes were purchased at Hobby Lobby.  The larger ones do not have a hole all the way through, so they were perfect for the head.  The smaller beads made the bodies of our monkeys.  We painted them brown with a color that matched our pipe cleaners as closely as possible. I don’t think it matters to have it perfect, though!

I used tan paint to do the mouth part on each head.  Then we started assembling the monkeys.

How to:

1. Start with 3 pipe cleaners, and twist them together as shown below.
2. The top three strands will be for the head and arms.  The bottom three will make the legs and tail.
3. Slide the body bead onto all three lower strands.
4. Then start bending the pipe cleaner legs to make feet.
5. The legs look best if they have a double layer of pipe cleaner.  So form the feet, and then bend the excess upward.  I either tucked the end into the body bead, or wrapped it around the monkey’s “waist” (below the bead).  Just do whatever works.
6. Then bend the arms.
7. Cut the head strand so that you have just enough left to fold over to be a neck.
8. Attach the head with a little hot glue. teenage mutant ninja turtles coloring pages
9. Then cut tiny rounded ears out of felt.  Glue those to the sides of the head.

Ta-da!  Isn’t he cute?  We used a short piece of a yellow pipe cleaner to make a banana.  The monkey’s hands are posable, and he can hold things.

It’s fun to pose a monkey on the end of a pencil.  Where else will your little monkey want to hang around?

Animal Craft for Kids: Cute Turtle Made of Egg Carton

Here’s a fun craft for kids!  Recycle an egg carton into some adorable turtles, caterpillars, and frogs!  We can’t decide which animal we like best.

The turtles are my favorite, although it’s hard to decide between those and the caterpillar! http://everfreecoloring.com

For this project, you’ll need:

1. Egg cartons
2. Paint – we used acrylic, but tempera paint is less staining
3. Pom poms for the turtle heads
4. Googly eyes
5. Pipe cleaners for the turtle legs and the caterpillar antennas
6. Green craft foam for the frog’s legs
7. Scissors
8. Hot glue gun

Caterpillars

For the caterpillar, I simply cut off one row of an egg carton all in one piece.  I trimmed it so that it would sit flat.

Then Jonathan painted each section of the caterpillar with acrylic paint.  It would be fine to use tempera paint if you want since acrylic does not wash out of clothes.  I like it for the vibrant colors and the fact that it isn’t chalky, but beware.

We thought that extra large googly eyes were perfect for this caterpillar.  I used a nail to poke holes for the antennas. Then I secured them with a little glue.  Jonathan loves his caterpillar!

Turtles

For the turtle, simply paint one egg carton section.  We let the paint dry and then added details to the shell with a second color. geometric coloring pages

To assemble the turtle, you’ll need a pom pom ball for the head, some googly eyes, and pipe cleaners for the legs and tail.

I folded each leg piece in half and then twisted it together.  Then I hot glued the twisted end to the inside of the shell.

The finished turtles are just so cute!

It was fun to make each of them a little bit different.

And the kids are enjoying playing with them!

Frogs

The frog is so simple to make.  Just paint the egg carton solid green.  Then glue on googly eyes and cut out feet from craft foam.  I attached the feet with hot glue.

Have fun crafting!

Easy Flower Arts and Crafts for Kids: Q-Tip Daisy

These Q-tip daisies are an adorable craft and are great for fine motor skills.

Cotton swabs are not just for your ears. We use them in art projects often. They are great to paint with. They are fun to craft with as well. We used bare Q-tips to make these simple daisies for the spring, but you could also dip the Q-tips in paint and create other colorful flower creations. http://everfreecoloring.com

We started by cutting a handful of cotton swabs in half.

My daughter and I both rolled a chunk of yellow play dough into a ball with our hands.

Once we formed our balls, we flatten them slightly between our palms.

I showed my daughter how to press the swab halves into the play dough around the outside to form the petals.

When she finished, she poked a green pipe cleaner into the side of her play dough to form her stem.

She put her flower in a vase and then made another daisy to go with it. She has a mock restaurant set-up in her playroom and used these in her restaurant for ambience. abstract coloring pages

My daughter kept her flowers loose, while I chose to press mine into a sheet of blue paper.

I trimmed a green pipe cleaner and then inserted it into the flower and glued the pipe cleaner down to the paper. I used the remaining piece of pipe cleaner to form a leaf and glued that to the paper too.

My daisy looked lonely, so I made one more daisy and added it to my picture.  These were very easy to make and great for letting those little fingers practice their fine motor skills.