Welcome to another Wacky Workshops project – making bugs from paper and paddle pop sticks.

Why make bugs? Insects are fascinating little creatures. Did you know grasshoppers have been around since before the dinosaurs? Or that ladybugs ‘bleed’ from their knees to deter predators?

We could not survive without the humble little bee. Discover some fascinating facts about bees in my post Saving Lives, Which One Will Make You a Hero?

In the meantime, gather your supplies and bug out with these fun crafts

I remember my sons had a fascination with insects when they were young. The Goddesses are starting to appreciate them as well. Everyone knows that fairies and insects are mates. These projects could work well for the next fairy party.

HOW TO BUG OUT WITH THESE FUN CRAFTS – GRASSHOPPERS

 Did you know grasshoppers can eat half their body weight in plants every day? Their ears are actually on their bellies and they make noises by rubbing their back legs against their forewings.

These little grasshoppers won’t make noise, but they sure are fun to play with.

MATERIALS

• Green paper
• Craft stick
• Glue stick
• Marker
• Googly eyes

METHOD

• Use the glue stick to trace a circle on the green paper for the head.
• Cut out a slightly larger half circle for the body.
• Cut two long strips for the wings
• Next, cut six smaller strips for the legs and another two for the antennae.
• Use the blunt edge of the scissors to curve your antennae strips.
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• You can use a green marker to colour the craft stick or glue green paper to it.
• Draw on facial features and glue the googly eyes on.
• Draw stripes on the body.
• Then glue the head to one end of the stick.
• Glue the body just under the head.
• Bend the wing strips in half and glue them into place.
• Finish by glueing on the legs and antennae.
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HOW TO BUG OUT WITH THESE FUN CRAFTS – LADYBUGS

They are actually beetles and are farmers’ friends because they eat the insects that destroy crops. Ladybugs are not always red with black spots. Sometimes they are yellow and black. Others can be black and white, or dark blue and orange. Some have stripes instead of spots and others have a checked pattern. There are more than 4000 species of ladybugs.

MATERIALS

• Craft stick
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Markers
• Red and Black paper
• Stiff plastic from packaging.

METHOD

• Cover your craft stick with black paper.
• Create the head on black paper by tracing around the glue tick and cutting out the circle.
• Add googly eyes and a mouth (you can draw this or cut one from the red paper and glue into place).
• Cut two circles from the red paper.
• Draw black dots on the circles, then fold them in half for the wings.
• Add the legs and antennae as per instructions for the grasshopper.
• Glue the wings in place.
• Cut long wing shapes from the plastic sand glue them inside the red circle wings.
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OTHER BUGS

Use the same method to create other bugs, such as bees, or design a completely different bug.

Think of ways you can use recyclables to create insects.

In the picture below you can see we made a ladybug wind chime using an old CD. We drilled holes in the bottom to attach old keys and glued bottle tops the CD body for the spots.

Cardboard painted black created the head, and plastic from packaging, the antennae and eyes.

HOW TO BUG OUT WITH THESE FUN CRAFTS – DRAGONFLIES

The fun thing about this project is that you can make the dragonfly wings flap.

MATERIALS

• Pipe cleaners – you can fold one in half and twist it or cut two different colours in half and twist them together.
• Paper strip – a little longer than the pipe cleaner.
• A hole punch
• Google eyes
• White paper, for the wings.

METHOD

• Fold the paper strip accordion style and when fully folded, punch a hole in the middle of the paper.
• Thread the pipe cleaner through the holes, leaving a little paper overlap at one end for the face.
• Glue googly eyes to the face.
• Cut out the wing shapes and glue them to the top of your dragonfly puppet.
• Move the puppet up and down to make the wings flap.

Follow me on Pinterest for more fun craft projects.

Happy crafting and have a gleeful week, Tamuria.