Dragonfly craft for kids

There is something so wonderful about dragonflies, something magical and interesting. Possum (2.5 years) was interested to learn more about them when we came across a poster, which illustrated a dragonfly, amongst other things. So to tap into her curiosity I decided to make a simple dragonfly craft for kids, which also turned in to a great activity for developing fine motor skills.

You will need –

• Coloured cellophane
• Spoons (wood or plastic)
• Paint
• Smock
• Pipe cleaners
• Googley eyes (optional)
• Glue (for googley eyes)

I was really excited to have come across some wooden spoons in my craft supplies, which were left over from a party we had sometime ago. Possum didn’t need much instruction to paint them using some gorgeous fluro paints by Micador. I also found it very useful to place the spoons and paint in a cardboard box lid as it helped to contain the activity.

Whilst they were drying, we set to work on preparing the dragonfly wings. Of course that meant using some pipe-cleaners, which Possum had a fabulous time holding and playing with prior to beginning the craft.

I began by cutting rectangles from the cellophane, which would become the wings of my dragonfly. There is no set size you should use, mine were roughly cut 20cm x 30cm, but test out what will suit your sized spoon.

Older children will have no trouble then pinching the middle of the rectangular piece of cellophane and winding the end of a pipe-cleaner to hold the middle securely in place (see above). Younger children might have difficulty with this and need some assistance.

If you find your painted spoons dry, add a little glue and stick down some big googley eyes!

To secure the wings to the (now dry) painted spoon, simply wrap the pipe-cleaner down the length of the spoon handle, as shown above. This will give the dragonfly a lovely decorative feature.

As soon as you’re done your child can play with them as much as they like. These dragonflies would be great to use in pretend play experiences and to better understand their main features. You could also use these as a way of demonstrating how they compare to other flying insects, such as butterflies.

Would your child enjoy playing with these dragonflies?

Some other ideas I know you will like –
          

Ebooks available featuring Laughing Kids Learn