This week, Roy was intrigued by the pipe cleaners which had been lying around the house. There were so many possibilities and so many intriguing things to do with them – he couldn’t resist finding something suitable. When I told him that lots of children used to use pipe cleaners to make figures, he thought this might be perfect, and looked through his old books and patterns for an idea. When he found the designs for farm animals, they captured his imagination and he had to have a go at making a few. The finished animals were very cute, so Roy thought he would share the designs. So this week, Roy Creates Pipe Cleaner Farm Animals.
You Will Need:
- 5 6-inch pipe cleaners per animal
- Lots of wool in various colours
- Glue and small googly eyes or beads to make eyes
- A toothpick
- Scissors
Method:
- In this example, Roy is making a cow, but you could make pink pigs, or horses, or dogs - your imagination is the limit!
- To start with, you need to make the pipe cleaner body. First, make the head by bending one pipe cleaner in half and shaping the curved end into an open, vaguely animal shaped head. Twist the ends together to hold the heads shape. This twisted part will be part of the neck.
- Next, use a second pipe cleaner to shape the body. Bend it in half and twist the open ends, and the twisted end of the neck together to attach to body and head together.
- Use another two pipe cleaners to make the legs. Twist one around the back end of the cow, with the two loose ends forming legs and twist the second one, in the same way, around the front of the cow, at the base of the neck.
- Use the last pipe cleaner to tightly bind everything together, twisting it around the legs, body and base of the neck.
- You should have a pipe cleaner shape like Roy has above
- Now, start winding wool around the pipe cleaner shape. Roy used black and white wool to make a fresian cow. You want to completely cover the pipe cleaners with wool. It is easiest to tie the wool around one of the pipe cleaners to hold it in place as you begin. Roy began with the head and worked towards the tail.
- To wind the head, wrap the wool from the 'nose' to the 'neck' to cover the tip of the nose, and then wind from top to bottom over the empty places to fill the gaps. If you wind the nose in a top to bottom way, the wool will slip off.
- When you have reached the back of the cow, add a tail. Roy used just a few pieces of wool for his cow, but to make a horse tail, wrap the wool around your hand a few times, and then snip one end of the loops to make lots of pieces.
To attach the tail, lay one end of your wool tail along the animals back and wind wool tightly around the base of the tail to hold it in place (this also helps to thicken the body) - Add an udder to your cow by cutting two short lengths of pink wool and winding the black/white wool over the middle section of the udder to attach it.
- If you are making a horse: Make a mane. Wind the wool back along the body of the horse, until you reach the neck. Cut a separate length of wool (grey for Roy's horse) and tie it at the base of the horses neck. Wind the original wool (Roy used brown for his horse) over the grey so you can’t see where it is tied.
Now, start folding the grey wool into loops along the neck, and wind the brown wool in between the loops to hold them tightly in place. Continue until you reach the horses head, and then cut off any grey wool left over.
Cut through the loops of the mane, so it is loose and fluffy.
- Use the glue to add beads or googly eyes to your cow.
- Bend the legs so the cow stands up on its own
- Use short lengths of tooth pick, tucked into the wool, to give your animals ears.
- Enjoy playing with your new farm animals!