AUSTIN, Texas — Being a parent is always tough, but it seems especially difficult right now. It can be hard to find ways to keep your kids entertained, but KVUE is here to help!
Every week, we're offering craft and project ideas to keep your kids busy. This week, we are creating objects out of pipe cleaners.
The ends of pipe cleaners can be a little sharp – but other than that – this craft doesn't need much supervision.
It's very much a two-part project, similar to LEGOs. The first part: building. The second: playing with what you built.
We like two-part projects because it will keep your kids busy for longer.
If you want to make this an educational craft for your little ones, you can talk about color, shapes and counting. We practiced our addition while doing our creations. For the children who are beyond color and addition ... you can talk about three-dimensional shapes, stability and structure.
We started by making bracelets and built up to making animals and flowers. We found a bunch of tutorials online by searching "pipe cleaner" and whatever animal we wanted to create.
Once we got the hang of it, we ended up figuring many of the animals out on our own.
A fun fact about pipe cleaners: when you shop for them ... they aren't called pipe cleaners. There are a few names for them, including chenille sticks, chenille stems, and – my personal favorite – fuzzy sticks.
Here's what you need:
- Pipe cleaners
- Scissors
- Googly Eyes (optional but highly recommended)
- Glue (for the googly eyes