Macaroni Animals are a fun and easy craft for kids of all ages to do, even as young as preschool age. There are all sorts of Macaroni Animals you can make with all kinds of dry pasta; as long as the pasta can be strung through pipe cleaner it will work for this craft. This means the pasta will need to be hollow in the middle. Pipe cleaner, along with pasta, is the main ingredient needed to make Macaroni Animals. Packages of pipe cleaner in multiple colors can be found at any craft store. Macaroni can be found at any grocery store. Some pasta that can be used for Macaroni Animals is macaroni, wagon wheels, ziti or rigatoni. Another key ingredient you will need is scissors.
You need to decide which animal you want to make. A fun idea is to make an animal that goes along with a theme. For example, a theme could be farm animals. You can make a pig for this theme. Since you are making a pig, the color will be pink. So using pink pipe cleaner is recommended since your pipe cleaner will show and it will all blend in together well.
If you want to color your macaroni before assembling your animal, you may do so by using pink craft paint or a pink marker. You can also color your pig pink after it is assembled. However, if you chose to paint your macaroni before making your pig, you will need to allow time for drying before actually making your animal.
The first step in assembling your Macaroni Animal is picking out a pipe cleaner for the pig’s body. The longest piece of pipe cleaner is used for your pig’s body. String it with macaroni then form it into an oval. Bending the ends onto each other finishes the oval and keeps the macaroni on the pipe cleaner.
The second step would be to make and attach the pig’s head and ears. Using a piece of pipe cleaner that is shorter than the body, string your macaroni then bend it into a circle. After making the shape, bend the ends to finish the circle. The next step is making the ears. Use two very short strips of pipe cleaner. String the pipe cleaner with macaroni then bend the pipe cleaner in half. You will then attach the ears to the top of the head bending the ends onto the circle. Next, form your ears to the shape you want. You will want to attach the head to the body at this point. Using a very small piece of pipe cleaner, attach the head to the body.
Then with small pieces of pipe cleaner, attach the short arms and legs. Then, with a plain piece of pipe cleaner, form a coil for the pig tail and attach it to the body. For the pig’s nose, use a piece of pipe cleaner and string one piece of macaroni to the center of the pipe cleaner. Then place the pipe cleaner across the middle of the pigs head, through the circle, and attach it to the sides.
Your pig is now finished. You may add details onto your pig with markers, including black eyes. The great thing you will see with macaroni crafts is that you can literally create anything you want. While this article references how to make a pig, you can easily make that into a dog, cow, rabbit, cat, or any other animal you can think off. Templates will help you see how the macaroni crafts should look in the end but you can also create them without any templates and just using your imagination.