Designed by Amanda Formaro
Here's a great craft for almost NO money! All you need are a few sticks, some acorn tops, rocks, and imagination! These darling little critters have a home of their own in this cute craft.
What you need
sticks in various sizes
acorn tops
smooth rocks in different sizes
hot glue gun (parents must do this!)
square or rectangular scrap of wood
matte acrylic spray sealer
small woodsie sign
black fine tip craft pen
For natural:
wiggle eyes
For colorful:
stylus or toothpick
paintbrush
household sponge
acrylic paint (in forest green, olive green, light brown, cream, light blue, light green, red, blue, orange, yellow, pink, purple, black, and white)
What you do
Safety note: Parents should handle the glue gun as temperatures can get very hot and cause uncomfortable burns. Allowing older children to use the glue gun is entirely up to the parent, but child should always be supervised!
Natural
click here for a larger version
Begin by making sure the ends of the sticks are fairly flat. You can do this by simply smooshing the ends against the sidewalk. Use hot glue gun to adhere the sticks to the block of wood, then glue the acorn tops to the top of each stick.
Wash all the rocks and be sure they are dry before gluing on wiggle eyes. Glue the rocks to the wood in various places. Write the words "Bug Village" on a small woodsie sign and glue to the front of the piece of wood as shown in photo.
Colorful
click here for a larger version
Paint the block of wood with forest green paint. When dry, sponge on some olive green paint to the forest green. Paint the sticks with light brown paint. Paint some of the acorn tops with light blue and the rest with light green. Glue the sticks to the wood, then glue the acorn tops to the sticks.
Wash all the rocks and be sure they are dry before you paint them. use various colors to paint the rocks: blue, red, purple, pink, green, etc. Use the stylus or toothpick to dot on spots and/or lines to your bugs. Dot on white spots for eyes, and a smaller black dot onto the white spot. Glue rocks in place when they are dry.
Create a sign by painting a small woodsie sign with cream paint, then shade the edges with light brown. Use black fine tip craft pen to write "Welcome to Bug Village" in the center.
The natural Bug Village is perfect for a boy's room while girls will adore the colorful bugs!
About the Author
Amanda Formaro is the entrepreneurial mother of four children. She is also the owner of FamilyCorner.com Magazine at
http://familycorner.com Subscribe to her free kid's craft newsletter, Busy Little Hands, by sending any email message to mailto:kidscrafts-on@mail-list.com
