Stick insects

The body of each of these insects is... a stick. Use three pieces of pipe-cleaner to form the six legs and whatever else you can find to make a head, eyes and antennae. These ‘stick insects’ make ideal pets as they are friendly and eat nothing at all!

You will need:

• A stick
• Three lengths of pipe-cleaner
• Odds and ends for heads, eyes and antennae. Do check for choking hazards before use and do not leave children to play with the finished creatures unsupervised.
• PVA glue and spreader. Top tip – gluesticks are not strong enough for this activity.

How to make an stick insect:

• Wrap the three pipe-cleaners around the stick to make six ‘legs’ and bend at the knees to give a realistic shape.
• Add the head, eyes and antennae
  1. The insect on the left has a large button for a head (stuck on with blue-tack), with eyes cut from a sticky label and pupils drawn on, and antennae made from another pipe-cleaner and two shiny black beads.
  2. The insect in the centre has a pom-pom head, googly eyes, and antennae made from another pipe-cleaner and two smaller pom-poms.
  3. The insect on the right has two googly eyes stuck straight on to the stick.

Last Updated 06 December 2010