Pipecleaner Zoo

Pipecleaner Zoo

Kids love animals. This fun little sculpture project will get your kids making some of their favourites, whether it’s the family pets, the exotic animals they visited at the zoo, friendly farm animals, or native Australian animal.

This activity can take as little or as much time as you please depending on how involved you want to get. All you need is pipe cleaners, paints, and a paintbrush. I can imagine these little sculptures turned into some amazing dioramas, mobiles, puppets, or wall-hangings!

Start by researching the animals you want to make, Google images or use some reference books, it helps to have some images when you are bending the bodies. Each animal only needs one pipecleaner, but if you want to make bigger sculptures you could always link two together.

Try to simplify your animals as you bend them, trying to add fine details will be very frustrating. To join the ends together once the animal is shaped I just made two little hooks and linked them together, an adult might be needed for this. Pipecleaners are very forgiving, so try and try again if your shapes aren’t working out, this is a surprisingly good problem solving activity for small hands and growing minds.

I wanted to paint my animals to differentiate them from each other a bit. Just make sure the kids are applying plenty of paint, and scrub it into the fine hairs of the pipecleaners. They will need a few hours to dry properly. While I waited, I created some little beady eyes out of circles I stole from my holepunch, a black pen, and a touch of PVA. Little googly eyes would look pretty amazing too though.

Another awesome simple budget friendly idea for you to try either in the classroom, or at home with the kids.

We love to see your projects too! Be sure to share your ideas with us.

Until next time.

Tracy x