How to Make Beaded Pipe Cleaner Dragonflies

I LOVE crafts that use simple craft materials! These beaded pipe cleaner dragonflies are so awesome because you only need 3 things to make them – pipe cleaners, beads and googly eyes. That’s it! And most people have those in their stash of craft supplies somewhere.

And even if you don’t, you should be able to find all the supplies you’ll need at the dollar store. You can make one of these dragonflies in less than 5 minutes. Quick and easy!

I love when the kids can actually play with their craft when they’re done. My kids get so excited to make things that they can play with. They seem so much more creative when they make their own toys!

These beaded pipe cleaner dragonflies are SO CUTE! And they're so easy to make! All you need are pipe cleaners, plastic pony beads and googly eyes and you can whip one up in less than 5 minutes! This is such a fun kids craft that they can actually play with when they're done! A great kids activity for spring and summer!

I went overboard at Christmas and bought a whole bunch of sparkly pipe cleaners at the dollar store. If you can’t find sparkly pipe cleaners (although, I’m pretty sure any craft store will have them… and of course Amazon), you can use regular fuzzy pipe cleaners too. They look just as great! I just like that the sparkly pipe cleaners sparkle just like real dragonflies.

We had lots of beautiful dragonflies in the pond in our backyard when I was growing up. My favourites were the red and blue dragonflies. They seemed to hover as they moved over top of the water and through the cattails. They were so sparkly and beautiful when they glimmered in the sunlight!

Check out our video for how to make Beaded Pipe Cleaner Dragonflies:

If you make these beaded pipe cleaner dragonflies, here are a few similar crafts that would be great to make at the same time:

Beaded Pipe Cleaner Butterflies

Beaded Pipe Cleaner People

Beaded Pipe Cleaner Snowflakes

Beaded Pipe Cleaner Shamrocks

Beaded Pipe Cleaner Dragonflies Tutorial

Here’s what you’ll need. The following affiliate links will take you to products on Amazon that are similar to the supplies I used:

3 pipe cleaners (sparkly or regular)

11 plastic pony beads

2 small googly eyes

crafter’s tape

scissors

This is such an awesome low mess kids craft! It’s super easy to make and it uses really simple craft supplies!

Fold one of the pipe cleaners in half.

Add about 10 plastic pony beads onto the pipe cleaner half, leaving about 1 inch of pipe cleaner showing at the folded end.

After this step, it should look like this:

Take one of the other pipe cleaners and shape it into a circle, crossing over the ends by about 1/2 inch.

Then twist the ends over the pipe cleaner circle so they are secure and somewhat hidden. You’ll have a continuous circle shape like in the photo below.

Push the top and bottom of the circle inwards until they meet. You don’t have to twist them yet because we’ll do that in the next step.

You just want to make sure the wings are shaped evenly before you slide them onto the dragonfly’s body.

Slide the “wings” onto the dragonfly’s body (just like sliding a ring onto a finger) and center them so the wings are even on each side. Then, twist the wings two times as close to the body as you can get (while pinching the middle to hold it all in place.).

Next, flip it over, and twist the wings twice on the other side (while pinching in the middle to hold it in place.). If you’re confused by this step, try watching the video above. Hopefully that will help to show what you need to do.

Take the third and final pipe cleaner and cut about 2 inches off from the end.

Take the longer pipe cleaner piece (you don’t need the other small piece that you trimmed off), and cross over the ends by about 1/2 inch to make another circle.

Just as before, twist the ends over the pipe cleaner circle so they are secure and somewhat hidden and you have a pipe cleaner circle shape.

And again pinch the top and bottom of the circle together to make the wing shape (but don’t twist it yet).

Just as with the first set of wings, slide the body through the center of the smaller set of wings, then carefully twist the wings tightly on both sides of the body to hold them in place. The smaller set of wings should be closer to the dragonfly’s tail.

Bend and shape the pipe cleaners so they are even and shaped like wings, like in the photo below.

Slide the final plastic pony bead onto the dragonfly’s body so it lies on the head side of the wings.

Pinch the two loose ends of the dragonfly body together and carefully roll them into a spiral to make the dragonfly’s head (just like in the photo below).

Finally, you can add your two small googly eyes. I don’t have any self-adhesive googly eyes (I really need to get some!?), so I used crafter’s tape to attach them.

And your beaded pipe cleaner dragonfly is done! Repeat the steps in different colours to make your dragonfly family!

Aren’t they pretty!?

And they’re so easy to make!

I really love crafts that barely use any materials. So this one is great!

These beaded pipe cleaner dragonflies are SO CUTE! And they’re so easy to make! All you need are pipe cleaners, plastic pony beads and googly eyes and you can whip one up in less than 5 minutes! This is such a fun kids craft that they can actually play with when they’re done! A great kids activity for spring and summer!

For more fun things to make with beads and pipe cleaners, click over to our tutorial for making beaded pipe cleaner people. These even have movable arms and legs!