Crafts for Lazy Parents: Pipe Cleaner Sculptures

Pipe cleaners are awesome. Though not necessarily for cleaning actual pipes. I mean, I tried to use one once to clean out the straw part of an old sippy cup that had been under the couch for a few days weeks months and it was not very helpful.

But for crafts they are perfect. I mean, they don't spill, or stick or stain. If they do wind up on the floor (in my house it's more a question of when), they don't hurt to step on. And they're cheap.

I like to tell the kids to make a sculpture with them, mostly because it sounds so much better than, "Entertain yourselves with these so I can stop feeling guilty about all the screen time you have."

The twist is very popular.

But you can't rule out making actual things, like flowers.

When the kids were younger, they would put beads on them and turn them into bracelets. The stiffness of the pipe cleaner made stringing tinier beads easier, I guess. I had forgotten all about the bead thing (beads have been banished until I'm sure I won't be the one who has to dig them all out of the carpet) until Hugmonkey brought this home from school:

According to Hugmonkey, these kept them busy for several art classes this year. So I'm thinking that's at least one rainy summer afternoon activity. I love the way they've got the beads and the overlapping pipe cleaners going on, it's so filled with fine motor goodness.