Beautiful Pipe Cleaner Snowflakes for Kids to Make

With this easy tutorial, kids can make a flurry of beautiful pipe cleaner snowflakes to hang on the Christmas tree or to display in a sunny window this winter.  

These pipe cleaner and bead snowflakes are super-easy to make and they give kids a chance to work on their fine-motor skills and their sorting and patterning skills.

See all of our  beautiful snowflake crafts here .

Toddlers and preschoolers can make these snowflakes with very little assistance, and older children will want to make a bunch to hang on the Christmas tree or in a sunny window for winter.

Preschoolers may require some assistance twisting their pipe cleaners together to form their snowflakes, but you can encourage the older kids to help them. I love it when my older kids help the little ones with the steps that they can’t quite manage themselves. Everyone benefits from a little teamwork.

Ready to make some pipe cleaner snowflakes? Let’s get started.

SUPPLIES:

To make our pipe cleaner snowflakes, you’ll need:

• metallic or chenille pipe cleaners
• plastic beads
• scissors
• metallic thread for hanging

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. To start, cut two pipe cleaners in half. Set one of the pieces aside as you’ll only need 3 to make a six-pointed snowflake.
2. Fold your three pipe-cleaner pieces in half to make 3 V’s (see above photo).
3. Link two of the pieces hooking them together at the bottom of the V’s. The open ends of the V’s will be facing in opposite directions. Give them a twist where they meet to secure them together.
4. Next, insert that twisted section deep into the crease of the third pipe cleaner.
5. Secure each arm of this third pipe cleaner around its next-door neighbour.
6. Now that you have all 6 arms of the snowflake in place, you can adjust them slightly to make sure they’re all equally spaced.

If any of the snowflake’s arms seem loose and wiggly, just twist it around its neighbour, and adjust the spacing again.

Bead your Snowflake!

Young children may not be interested in making their snowflake look perfectly symmetrical. They may be happy with some simple patterning or they may just want to use random mis-matched beads. Older kids who want their snowflakes to be symmetrical will need to select sets of 6 matching beads for their snowflake.

Have the kids leave a bit of pipe cleaner empty at the end of each arm so it can be crimped to prevent the beads from falling off.

Finish by tying a loop of metallic thread to each snowflake so it can be hung and enjoyed in a window or on the tree.  

You may also enjoy these bead and snowflake crafts for preschoolers:

Easy Pipe Cleaner and Bead Icicles

Beaded Pipe Cleaner Christmas Wreaths