Pipe cleaner flowers are a fast, low-mess craft for all ages. Try this no-fail tutorial for hours of easy fun using just one single craft item!
Jump to:
- Brighten Today with a Pipe Cleaner Flower Bouquet!
- You Will Love This Pipe Cleaner Flower Tutorial
- What You'll Need For Pipe Cleaner Flowers
- How to Make Pipe Cleaner Flowers
- Craft Tips for Pipe Cleaners Flowers
- Pipe Cleaner Flower Bouquet Variations
- How Can I Use the Pipe Cleaner Flowers?
- Pipe Cleaner Flower Tutorial Video
- FAQ
- More DIY Flower Crafts for Kids
- Come join the fun at WTN!
- More Crafts Please!
- Pipe Cleaner Flowers
Brighten Today with a Pipe Cleaner Flower Bouquet!
The humble pipe cleaner is the star of this show. It’s the only supply needed to make these colorful, looped flowers.
After learning how to make just a few twists you will brighten your day with a whole pipe cleaner flower bouquet!
You Will Love This Pipe Cleaner Flower Tutorial
After 60 years of craft making, I still can’t get enough of Pipe Cleaner Flower making! This time I shared the joy with three granddaughters. They all loved it (age 5-12).
The pipe cleaner flowers multiplied so quickly that we each made a pipe cleaner flower bouquet and used them to decorate our tea party that afternoon. How many favorites did I put together that day? Grandkids, crafts, and a tea party- that’s a Nana's dream come true!
I can’t explain it, but I just showed them a couple tricks to making the flowers and then we all just started doing our own thing. It was such a creative time.
Every flower turned out a little bit different and they even experimented and came up with their own pipe cleaner flower ideas. It didn’t hurt that I had so many colors of pipe cleaners in my bundle of 1000 pipe cleaners I had purchased!
What You'll Need For Pipe Cleaner Flowers
Here are a few quick notes about the supplies you will need to make this craft!
- Pipe cleaners- You need pipe cleaners in a variety of colors. You don't need a 1000 pipe cleaners, but I bought a bundle and the colors are so cool!!
- Green pipe cleaners- It’s nice to have extra green pipe cleaners for stems.
- Wire cutters (optional)- I use wire cutters for snipping the little wire in the pipe cleaners. But you can use scissors if you want.
- Decorations (optional)- Use extra items to decorate your flowers like beads, googly eyes, buttons or pom-poms for centers on the flowers for instance.
- Hot glue gun (optional)- Use hot glue on flower centers or decorations.
How to Make Pipe Cleaner Flowers
Brighten your day with a colorful pipe cleaner bouquet! Here is the step-by-step tutorial.
- Choose one pipe cleaner for your flower petals. Twist the pipe cleaner around a pen and then twist the ends together. Pinch the loops together and slide it off the pen.
- Thread a green pipe cleaner through the center of the loops of the 1st pipe cleaner. Bend it in half and twist tightly right below the loops. Pull the green pipe cleaner stem down and the loops upwards.
- Pull the loops apart to make a flower. Twist, pinch, and bend the loops to look like petals. I made mine into ovals.
- Cut a yellow pipe cleaner into thirds (or color of choice). Twist up one end of the pipe cleaner into a twirl to a size you like for the center of your flower. Bend the rest of the pipe cleaner downwards and stick it through the center of the flower petals. Twist the straight end around under the flower petals and around the stem (this will be underneath the flower). Trim off any extra with wire clippers or a scissors.
- Twist the two halves of the green stem together for about ½-1 inch. Loop one stem to look like a leaf shape. Twist the two stems together a couple of times. Make the other stem into a leaf shape. Twist the rest of the two stem pipe cleaners together.
That’s it- so simple and so sweet!
Craft Tips for Pipe Cleaners Flowers
These tips can help making pipe cleaner flowers even easier!
- Wire cutters- Cut the pipe cleansers with a wire cutter to save your scissor blades.
- Thicker pipe cleaners- It is worth it to get thicker pipe cleaners so they hold their shape better.
- Experiment- Let kids make their own flower designs. You will be amazed.
- Help the littles- Help younger kids cut and twist the pipe cleaners.
- Flower center- Make the spiral twisted flower center. Clip off the extra pipe cleaner and hot glue the spiral to the center of the flower if this is easier for you.
Pipe Cleaner Flower Bouquet Variations
Want to switch things up? Here are a few ways you can customize and play with this craft.
- Larger flowers- Hook two pipe cleaners together and use a larger item to wind them around. This makes the petal loops larger and creates a larger flower.
- Layered flowers- Make two flowers and stack them up to make a fuller bloom. Try a smaller flower on top of a larger one.
- Flower types- Choose the colors of pipe cleaners to make certain flower types. A daisy has white petals and a yellow center. A sunflower has yellow/gold/orange petals and a brown center.
- Multi-color flowers- Use more than one color pipe cleaner in a flower.
How Can I Use the Pipe Cleaner Flowers?
There are many ways to use your pipe cleaner flowers.
- Bouquet- Make several flowers and create a pipe cleaner flower bouquet! Tie a ribbon around the stems or place them in a small vase.
- Wreath- Attach or glue the flowers to a wreath in small groups. It is so pretty for spring.
- Flower crown- Connect several straight pipe cleaners into a circle to make a crown that fits your head size. Twist the flower stems around that crown to decorate it!
- Package topper- Attach several flowers on top of a gift as decoration or into a bow.
Pipe Cleaner Flower Tutorial Video
Prefer to watch instead of read?
Watch the full step-by-step pipe cleaner flower tutorial found at this link: Pipe Cleaner Flower YouTube Video Link.
FAQ
This craft works well for ages 4 and up. Younger children may need help with cutting and twisting pipe cleaners, while the older kids can create more detailed designs.
Yes! They’re great for bouquets, to place in vases, added to packages as gift toppers, flower crowns, or wreaths (just to name a few uses).
Well, technically they could last forever. But in reality they last a long time indoors. A real perk is that they can be reshaped if they get bent and they can also be reused.
This tutorial gives step by step directions. Twist a colored pipe cleaner around a pen making loops, take it off. Use a green pipe cleaner to thread through the loops, twist and hold the loops together. Add a twisted pipe cleaner flower center. Twist the stem, making loops for leaves as you go.
1 of a color, 1 green, ⅓ yellow for a center (if making the flower in this tutorial).
More DIY Flower Crafts for Kids
Looking for more great DIY flower-themed crafts for kids? Here are a few favorites here at Welcome to Nana’s for you to try next:
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Pipe Cleaner Flowers
Equipment
- Wire cutters (optional) I use wire cutters for snipping the little wire in the pipe cleaners. But you can usescissors if you want.
- Hot glue gun (optional) Use hot glue on flower centers or decorations.
Items Required
- Pipe cleaners You need pipe cleaners in a variety of colors. You don't need a 1000 pipe cleaners, but I bought a bundle and the colors are so cool!!
- Green pipe cleaners It’s nice to have extra green pipe cleaners for stems.
- Decorations (optional) Like beads, googly eyes, buttons or pom-poms
Instructions
- Choose one pipe cleaner for your flower petals. Twist the pipe cleaner around a pen and then twist the ends together. Pinch the loops together and slide it off the pen.
- Thread a green pipe cleaner through the center of the loops of the 1st pipe cleaner. Bend it in half and twist tightly right below the loops. Pull the green pipe cleaner stem down and the loops upwards.
- Pull the loops apart to make a flower. Twist, pinch, and bend the loops to look like petals. I made mine into ovals.
- Cut a yellow pipe cleaner into thirds (or color of choice). Twist up one end of the pipe cleaner into a twirl to a size you like for the center of your flower. Bend the rest of the pipe cleaner downwards and stick it through the center of the flower petals. Twist the straight end around under the flower petals and around the stem (this will be underneath the flower). Trim off any extra withwire clippers or a scissors.
- Twist the two halves of the green stem together for about ½-1 inch. Loop one stem to look like a leaf shape. Twist the two stems together a couple of times. Make the other stem into a leaf shape. Twist the rest of the two stem pipe cleaners together.
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