(affiliate link) which I'd absolutely recommend for any little ones with an interest in bugs, it's kept him busy for ages! I sorted through my craft materials, and thought that we'd have a go at making some of our own simple minibeasts.
This is what we came up with:
Bumble bee
You need - Yellow Kinder egg toy container, large yellow pom pom, black acrylic paint, netting or thin fabric, cotton, googly eyes
Remove the lid section from the Kinder egg container. Paint a black stripe around the middle and a circle on the bottom (you will find that the container itself has markings that you can use). Glue a large yellow pom pom into the opening, using plenty of glue. Cut a rectangle with rounded edges from the netting and tie tightly across the middle with the cotton to form the wings. Glue to the top of the body and add on the googly eyes.
Caterpillar
You need - Different sizes of green pom poms (or any colour will do really), lollipop stick or thin strip of cardboard, googly eyes
Glue the pom poms along the stick firmly and add the googly eyes.
Butterfly
You need - Toilet roll tube, brown or black paint (optional), cardboard, pieces of scrap coloured paper, lace, tin foil etc., pipecleaners
If you can persuade your child (I couldn't!), paint the toilet roll tube brown. Cut out two wings from cardboard and cover them in the scraps of coloured paper. You can also add sequins, glitter, stickers and so on. Sellotape them to the sides of the toilet roll tube so that they can flap a bit and add pipe cleaners for the antennae.
Spider
You need - Toilet roll tube, black paint, googly eyes, string for hanging (optional)
Cut eight strips into the toilet roll to form the legs of the spider, leaving about 4cm for the head. Trim the legs a little and fold them out. Paint the whole thing black and add googly eyes. If you like you can tie a length of string to the head so that you can hang him up.
An interesting minibeasts fact for you - it's only an insect if it's got six legs. Also, sometimes I think that you can make any kid's craft look great if you add on some googly eyes!
Those are brilliant! And I've thought the same about googly eyes, Laura is still a big fan of making robots, any cardboard box with googly eyes and a smile drawn on looks like a robot, no matter what else you do to it!
ReplyDeleteGoogly eyes are great! I don't remember ever buying any but we have loads, I think they have all come in the reduced craft kits that I always find myself buying in the supermarkets after a seasonal event.
DeleteWe've not made a proper robot, I loved yours, I need to save up some boxes!
Fantastic! With a wet weekend coming up, I'll add this to my mental bag of tricks. I also like sticking a pipe cleaner through the pom pom, putting googly eyes on it, and wrapping the pipe cleaner around a pencil to make a pencil pal --
ReplyDeletewww.mumswrite.com
Now I like the sound of the pencil pal! I never know what to do with those pom poms, we've collected loads in various craft kits, thanks for the idea!
DeleteAgreed- googly eyes are the key ;)Thanks for linking to Kids Get Crafty! ~Alissa and Maggy
ReplyDelete