Turn an empty toilet paper roll (or other small cardboard tube) into a cute, yarn-wrapped bee craft for kids! This easy craft provides lots of fine motor practice and makes a great addition to any unit on insects, bugs, or gardening. It’s also perfect for Earth Day, spring or summer.

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I always keep a stash of recyclables in a box for the kids to create with- things like paper towel rolls, egg cartons, and toilet paper rolls. Recently, we grabbed a few of the tp rolls from the box of recyclables and a few other crafting supplies, and created these cute bumblebees!

This craft is great for little hands and provides fine motor practice with the yarn wrapped stripes. The finished bees can stand alone or be hung from the ceiling to decorate your home or classroom.

Be sure to check out our other bee crafts:

• Egg Carton Baby Bee
• Painted Bumblebee
• Yarn Wrapped Egg Carton Bee

Yarn Wrapped Cardboard Tube Bee Craft

Materials for Cardboard Tube Bee Craft

• Cardboard tube- like an empty toilet paper roll (or you can purchase cardboard tubes for crafting)
• Yellow tempera paint and paintbrush (This is our favorite brand!)
• Black yarn
• Scissors
• Construction paper (yellow and white)
• Black pipe cleaner
• Googly eyes
• Black marker or crayon

Directions for Cardboard Tube Bee Craft

1. Paint a cardboard tube with yellow paint and let it dry completely.

2. Grab a long piece of black yarn.

3. Cut a small slit on the bottom and top of the cardboard tube to hold the yarn. Place one end of the yarn into the slit. Wrap the yarn around the tube to form stripes for your bee. (Younger children might just enjoy wrapping the yarn without actually creating stripes.) After you’re done wrapping your yarn, place the other end into the top slit to hold it in place. Cut off any extra yarn.

4. Cut two small pieces of black pipe cleaner and glue them onto your bee body to make antennae. (You can use black paper if you don’t have any pipe cleaners.) We like to use quick drying glue or a glue gun so we don’t have to wait long for the glue to dry, but regular school glue will work too.

5. Cut out two white wings from construction paper. Glue them onto the back of your bee.

6. Cut out a yellow head from construction paper. Glue some googly eyes onto the face and draw a mouth with your black marker or crayon. Glue onto your bee.

That’s it! Use your bee for storytelling when reading books like What If There Were No Bees? and The Beeman, or hang it up at home or in the classroom!

Check out our other crafts in the video below!