How to make Pipe Cleaner Penguins – Winter DIY crafts

pipe cleaner penguins christmas craft ideas

Check out our easy tutorial and learn how to make these irresistible mini pipe cleaner penguins. They are great to decorate the house during the Holiday season and only require a few inexpensive materials.

Pipe cleaner penguins – List of materials needed

To make one pipe cleaner penguin, you will need:

1) One 10mm diameter Spun Cotton Ball and one 18mm Spun Cotton Egg. The resulting pipe cleaner penguin will be about 1.5 inches tall. For a bigger penguin, you can use larger balls and larger eggs.

2) One small strand of orange pipe cleaner and one small strand of black pipe cleaner.

3) A black ball pen, a dab of orange paint (acrylic is fine), and a very fine paint brush.

4) A pair of wire cutters and a pair of pliers.

The basic technique for this craft is to squeeze spun cotton shapes inside of pipe cleaner strands.

When a piece of pipe cleaner is twisted around a spun cotton shape, it creates pressure around the shape and locks it into place.

penguin winter craft ideas

Step by step instructions

1: Prepare the feet and the head.

For the feet, simply make a doughnut with a small piece of orange pipe cleaner.
For the head, grab a spun cotton ball and draw the eyes with the ball pen and paint a small nose with the orange paint. I used a toothpick to hold the ball.
IMPORTANT: Make sure the ball’s hole is on top of the head, not on the bottom.

spun cotton ball penguin

2: Tighten the pipe cleaner around the penguin’s head

Wrap the pipe cleaner around the head and give it 3 to 4 twists. Make sure the pipe cleaner is tight around the ball before you start twisting. You can use the pliers to help.

penguin figurine tutorial

3: Tighten the pipe cleaner around the penguin’s body and feet

With one hand, hold the feet and the body of your penguin together and with the other hand, twist and tighten the 2 strands of pipe cleaner around them.

TIP: position the portion of the feet where the two ends of the pipe cleaner meet towards the back where it doesn’t show.

penguin figurine DIY

4: Cut off the excess pipe cleaner.

You can also leave the two strands uncut and use them to display your penguin.

DIY pipe cleaner penguins

You are done :)

hope you enjoyed this tutorial. You can also use the pipe cleaner and spun cotton shape technique to create different pipe cleaner animals such as rabbits or bears – the possibilities are endless.

Thank you for reading, good luck with your penguin projects, and happy crafting!

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