Collection: Spring Craft - DIY Dragonfly

Have you and your kiddos ever seen a dragonfly in real life? We absolutely love how their wings sparkle and glimmer in the sunshine! Bring a bit of this sparkling beauty into your home with this simple dragonfly craft - complete with sparkly wings and googly eyes.

 

Materials

• Clothespin
• NOYO Crayons
• Pipe Cleaners (one 12 inches in length, one 6 inches in length)
• Googly Eyes
• Glue

Make the Body

1. Gather your materials. (Bonus organization points if you use an activity tray!)
2. Use your NOYO crayons to decorate one side of your clothespin. Get creative! You can color it all one color, use multiple colors, make polka dots, draw squiggly lines - it’s 100% up to you! Encourage your kids to use their imagination and really make their dragonfly their own. 
3. Using glue, attach the googly eyes on top of the clothespin end, near where it opens. We prefer to put the googly eyes near the part of the clothespin that is naturally closed. Let the glue dry completely to make sure they googly eyes are firmly attached.

 

Make the wings

1. Take a 12-inch pipe cleaner and cross the ends slightly. Continue to twist the ends, making a circle shape.
2. Twist the circle shape in the middle, making it into a figure 8 shape. Twist a few times to make sure the shape holds. You now have the dragonfly’s big set of wings!
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the 6-inch pipe cleaner. This will form the smaller set of wings!

Putting everything together

1. To make your dragonfly, open the clothespin and attach the smaller set of wings closest to the metal hinge. Follow with the larger set of wings. These should be closest to the googly eyes.
2. For permanent placement, have an adult hot glue the wings and googly eyes to the clothespin.

That’s it - the last step is to enjoy your dragonfly creations! Zoom zoom!

 

More Dragonfly Fun

Want to stretch this activity out even more?  Here are a few ideas to get you started! 

Fun Facts About Dragonflies

• Almost all of a dragonfly's head is made up of its eyes. This gives them very sharp eyesight, allowing them nearly 360-degree vision. Because of this, they can easily spot the movement of their prey, avoid in-flight collisions, and see a wider spectrum of colors than humans can!

• There are over 5,000 species of dragonflies on Earth!

• Dragonflies are some of the oldest winged insects. Scientists believe they evolved around 300 million years ago!

• The dragonflies of today have wingspans of 2 to 5 inches. But fossilized dragonflies were much bigger! Some of their wingspans were up to 2 feet!

• While they are still larva, dragonflies live in the water and eat just about anything. This stage can last for up to 2 years!

• Modern dragonflies have wingspans of only two to five inches, but fossil dragonflies have been found with wingspans of up to two feet.

• Dragonflies are expert fliers. They can fly straight up and down, fly backwards, hover like a helicopter, and make sharp turns - at full speed or in slow motion!

• Dragonflies are also excellent hunters. In fact, they hunt with their feet and can catch 90-95% of their prey! They’re also fast - they can fly forward at about 30 miles per hour!

• Dragonflies can live anywhere from a few weeks to a year!

• Dragonflies are great for getting rid of mosquitoes. One dragonfly can eat 30 to hundreds of mosquitoes in a day!

• The Globe Skinner dragonfly can travel 11,000 miles across the Indian Ocean and back. That’s the longest migration of any insect!

Cool Dragonfly Videos

These videos are engaging, kid-friendly, and educational!

The Secret World of Dragonflies by National Geographic

Sky Hunters: The World of the Dragonfly by The Secrets of Nature

Super Strong Dragonflies by SciShow Kids

Dragonflies for Kids by Wizz

How Do Dragonflies See the World by BBC Earth

 

Books About Dragonflies

Love to read together? Check out these digital books about and featuring dragonflies. Some are nonfiction and others are fiction.

Dragonflies and Damselflies: A Natural History

Dragonflies: Kids Look and Learn

Lina, the Duiker and the Dragonfly

The Dragonfly Pool

Izzy the Dizzy Dragonfly

Dragonfly: Fun Facts and Cool Pictures About Dragonflies

Dragonfly: Picture Book for Kids

Dragonflies: Big Book of Photos

Delilah the Dragonfly Dawns a Daring New Day

The World of the Dragonfly

Let’s Learn About the Dragonfly: Fun Facts About Nature’s Flying Acrobats

More Dab and Dot Fun

 

Looking for other fun, indoor Spring activities? Take a peek at our free 101 Easy Dot Markers activity book. It contains over 200 pages of cute and fun activities that pair perfectly with our Dab and Dot markers. 

Some of the activities include: 

• Butterfly Coffee Filter Art
• Rainbow Wheel
• Tie Dye
• Rainbow Art
• Egg Decorating
• Cinco de Mayo Art
• Flower Garden
• and more!

Simply download, print, and use!

We hope that you and your family have fun crafting and learning about dragonflies! Feel free to browse the rest of our blog for more fun arts and crafts activities! You may want to check out this Fun 3D Balloon Craft, these summer craft ideas, or this article on squeezing creativity into your day.