How to Make Pipe Cleaner Flowers

By
Nora Nalle
Nora Nalle
Nora Nalle

Nora Nalle is a kids' crafts expert, writer, and teacher with almost a decade of experience creating crafts and STEM craft tutorials for children. She was also a craft stylist for for the "All You Frightfully Fun Halloween Handbook," which focuses on kids' Halloween projects.

Learn more about The Spruce Crafts' Editorial Process
Updated on 07/30/20
pipe cleaner flowers

@nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

Project Overview
  • Total Time: 1 hr
  • Skill Level: Kid-friendly

Maybe you have a backyard with grass and a vegetable garden, or maybe you maintain a mini plant haven on a fire escape or sunny windowsill. If you don’t have any real plants in your home or don’t really consider yourself to have a green thumb—try making these super cute pipe cleaner flowers. You can place them in a small planter on your desk or in your home, and let them bring you a little bit of joy and happiness.

Crafting with pipe cleaners is great for children of all ages. If you’re a parent of small children, chances are that you already have a bunch in your home. Young children can better develop their fine motor skills by twisting and bending them, and older children can get creative with how they build and create with them. This craft is best suited for children ages seven through 10. The best thing about growing these flowers is that they only require a few materials from your craft drawer.

Hot glue gun, pipe cleaners, flower pot, and scissors
@nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • Scissors
  • Hot glue gun

Materials

  • Small planter
  • Floral arrangement foam (to fit planter)
  • Pipe cleaners in various colors (remember green for stems)
  • Artificial moss or potting soil (optional)

Instructions

  1. Place Three Pipe Cleaners on Top of Each Other

    To make pipe cleaner daffodils, use yellow, orange, and green pipe cleaners. Start your flower by laying three yellow pipe cleaners on top of each other in a star pattern (an X, with one pipe cleaner in the middle).

    Making Other Flowers

    This is the first step to making all kinds of pipe cleaner flowers, including daisies and roses.

    Yellow pipe cleaners arranged in a star pattern
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

  2. Secure the Pipe Cleaners Together

    Bend the pipe cleaners around each other to secure them together. Make sure that you maintain the same star shape.

    Person moving the star pipe cleaner pattern.
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

  3. Spiral One of the Sides to the Center

    Pick a side of the pipe cleaner star, and start spiraling it into the center of the flower. Make sure to keep the spiral tight.

    Person bending the yellow pipe cleaners
    @nadydelarosaphotography

  4. Repeat Spirals With All Sides

    Continue to spiral all pipe cleaners to the center of the flower. It’s okay if they overlap a little bit.

    Person pointing to the spiraled pipe cleaners.
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

  5. Attach Stem to Flower

    Use a green pipe cleaner to make a stem for your flower.

    1. Attach the stem to the flower by bending it over the center of the flower where the pipe cleaners are connected.
    2. Twist to secure.

    Adding Leaf Details

    If you want to make leaves for your flowers, do this:

    1. Cut small pieces of green pipe cleaner.
    2. Bend them in half.
    3. Twist the bottom together.
    4. Attach it to your stem by applying a small dot of hot glue to the leaf and then pressing it on.
    Person folding green pipe cleaner around yellow flower
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

  6. Cut Pipe Cleaners for Center Part of Flower

    To make the middle piece of your daffodil, you will need a small piece of pipe cleaner. Use scissors to cut the orange pipe cleaner into a third of its length.

    Person using scissors to cut an orange pipe cleaner
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

  7. Coil Center Part of Flower

    Have you ever made a clay coil pot before? If you have, you will be applying the same technique to the pipe cleaner.

    1. Start by making a small spiral (about the size of your pinky tip) with the pipe cleaner.
    2. Then start wrapping the pipe cleaner in a coil, building on top of the small spiral. It should look like a mini bowl or cup.
    3. The length of this coil should be about a half inch.
    Person curling orange pipe cleaner.
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

  8. Attach Center to Flower

    Use a hot glue gun to secure the middle part to the flower base. Carefully add a dot of hot glue to the center (where the stem connects to the flower), and secure the orange coil.

    Warning

    It's recommended to have a parent/guardian supervise this step for kids under 12 years of age. Even the most seasoned crafters can still get burned.

    Person applying hot glue to the center of the flower
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

  9. Repeat Steps to Make a Bouquet

    Although one flower is nice, a bouquet will always look better. If you plan on displaying your flower in a pot, add some more to the bunch by repeating the previous steps.

    Three pipe cleaner daffodils
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram

  10. Plant Pipe Cleaner Flowers

    Plant your pipe cleaner flowers into a small pot. You can use a terracotta one, but any small planter you have at home will work.

    1. Place a small piece of floral arrangement foam into the bottom of the pot to help your new flowers stand upright. 
    2. Arrange your new flowers in your pot.
    3. Add a small amount of potting soil or artificial moss to top off the pot.

    Create a Garden of Flowers

    Experiment with these steps to make other types of flowers:

    1. Use the coil step to make roses with red or pink pipe cleaners.
    2. Use the coil step to make hyacinths with lavender, hot pink, or purple pipe cleaners.
    3. Use the spiral steps to make daisies with white pipe cleaners.
    Pipe cleaner flowers arranged in a pot.
    @nadydelarosaphotography/Instagram