27 Popsicle Stick Craft Ideas (2024)

Days With Grey / Art / 27 Easy DIY Popsicle Stick Crafts

Author: Beth

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Truth: making popsicles is not the only thing you can do with popsicle sticks! Whether it’s crafting, building, or sorting, there are so manycreative art ideasand play activities kids can do with popsicle sticks. These are the BEST popsicle stick crafts and activities for kids I have found over the years as both a teacher and a mom of 3!

RELATED: Art has played a big role in my boys’ early years – check out my favorite art supplies for kids.

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Table of Contents:

  1. 20+ fun popsicle stick crafts for kids
  2. 5 craft stick activities
  3. Basic craft supplies
  4. What crafts can you make with popsicle sticks?
  5. 3D Shape Build with Popsicle Sticks
  6. Frequently Asked Questions

What can you do with craft sticks?

My kids and I spend the summertime mostly outside, playing, running, and cooling off with popsicles. But once the summer ends, we are always left with countless popsicle sticks. If you are wondering how to use up all of those popsicle sticks, look no further! Popsicle sticks are one of those supplies that offer so many versatileplay ideas for kids.

Use craft sticks for:

  • Art projects
  • Building
  • Make farm animals
  • Make popsicles
  • Matching
  • Sorting
  • STEM
  • Story retelling

RELATED: Is this idea getting you excited about summer? Check out these 30 Easy Summer Activities for Toddlers!

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20+ fun popsicle stick crafts for kids

Grab a handful of craft sticks and let’s make some simple crafts. Check out 20+ of my favorite popsicle stick craft ideas for endless frugal fun and creativity meant for kids of all ages!

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DIY Wax Paper Lantern

This beautiful and surprisingly fun craft project using popsicle sticks and wax paper is sure to be a highlight piece in any room of your home.

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Popsicle Stick Bookmark

These are the cutest little monster bookmarks require minimal supplies and are the perfect page holder for your little bookworms.

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DIY Popsicle Stick Monsters

Get silly and spooky with these adorable popsicle stick monsters using craft sticks, googly eyes, and paint.

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Bird Puppets

These adorable little bird puppets are fun for pretend play and for the tiniest toddler hands to hold onto.

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Tree Stick Craft

Make these easy DIY popsicle stick cactus plants that can be used for ongoing fun sensory and imaginative play.

GO TO THE TREE CRAFT

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Craft Stick Dominos

Let your kids create their own dominoes using different colors and patterns that they can use to play all of their favorite domino games.

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Room on the Broom Craft

An easy story-retelling art project that offers a hands-on approach and a creative way to retell a classic Halloween tale.

GO TO THE ROOM ON THE BROOM

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Owl Babies

A sweet and simple popsicle stick craft that uses popsicle sticks to help retell one of my all-time favorite board books.

GO TO OWL BABIES CRAFT

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Craft Stick Fairy Castles

This craft stick fairy castle project is such an easy craft idea that is not only cute for pretend play but includes additional steps to create a fairy castle and fairies.

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Rainbow Craft Sticks

Who doesn’t love a rainbow craft? This is one of my favorite easy popsicle stick crafts to use up popsicle sticks on those long rainy days.

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Color Matching Flowers

A great project for your toddler that is simple to make and use for fun activities like sorting, matching, and fine motor skill-building.

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Alphabet Flower Garden

Develop alphabet recognition and awareness with this cute popsicle stick garden craft.

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DIY Popsicle Stick Snowflakes

Grab a handful of craft sticks and create these beautiful geometric snowflakes during the next snowstorm.

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Kite Craft

A fun way to make mini kites to fly around inside using simple craft supplies and popsicle sticks. Truly the perfect craft for a beautiful summer day!

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Artic Animal Craft

Make adorable little arctic animals with this simple DIY art project that your preschooler will love to play imagination with and show off to their friends.

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DIY Stick Dinosaur

Create adorable popsicle stick dinos with your child that are easy and fun to assemble.

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Popsicle Stick Dragonflies

These popsicle stick dragonflies are a sparkly little craft project to welcome the spring season.

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Unicorn Craft

Whether or not your child loves unicorns, these popsicle stick unicorns are not only easy make but so much fun to play with!

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Popsicle Stick Vase

This stick vase craft project is functional, simple, and fun to make. It also makes for a great idea to gift to a neighbor or grandparent!

5 craft stick activities

Have extra craft sticks after your latest art project? Check out these five easy popsicle stick ideas for toddlers, preschoolers, and big kids.

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Color Match Memory

Introduce color sorting for your preschooler with this simple popsicle stick memory game.

GO TO COLOR MEMORY

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Shape Match

Strengthen your toddler’s fine motor skills and develop shape recognition and awareness using popsicle sticks and leftover egg cartons.

GO TO SHAPE MATCH

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Fly in Your Shapes

Integrate shape learning and movement with this hands-on activity to help encourage shape matching and recognition.

GO TO FLY IN YOUR SHAPES

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3D Kindergarten Shape Build

This a fantastic popsicle stick STEM activity for big kids who love to build and experiment with shapes, sizes, and creativity.

GO TO 3D SHAPE BUILD

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Toddler Color Pick

Improve fine motor skills, sorting, and color classification using popsicle sticks with this simple setup toddler activity.

GO TO TODDLER COLOR PICK

Basic craft supplies

Most of these ideas require the same basic craft supplies. I added everything here to make it easy to purchase one time.

Days with Grey participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more about these links in mydisclosure policy.

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Craft Sticks

I use craft sticks for this math activity and also forart activities. Grab a box, and you’re set for many easy ideas for kids.

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Kwik Stix

These Kwik Stix are where paint meets crayons. They come in bright, vibrant colors and are great for chubby hands to hold—another option for someone who wants to get creative without the liquid paint everywhere.

What crafts can you make with popsicle sticks?

Crafting is important for kids. Being creative builds independence strengthens fine motor skills, and widens the imagination. This simple supply offers so many open-ended ideas for crafting and creating.

  • Animals
  • Instruments
  • Lanterns
  • Popsicle stick catapult
  • Puppets
  • Vehicles
  • Plus, so much more (keep reading, I’ve got some cool ideas listed)pr

And if you have been a part of the Days with Grey community for a while, you know I tend to gravitate more towards process art with easy ideas for kids. So for this post, I got a little help from my craftier friends.

Actual popsicle sticks make for the perfect versatile craft and activity supply. If you feel like yourart supplybox is drowning in excess of popsicle sticks, try out some of these fun ideas for crafting, creating, and playing! The truth is, in my opinion —- you truly can never have too many popsicle sticks – happy crafting!

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3D Shape Build with Popsicle Sticks

This a fantastic popsicle stick STEM activity for big kids who love to build and experiment with shapes, sizes, and creativity.

Print Pin

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Activity Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Ingredients

  • Craft Sticks
  • Play dough

Instructions

  • Gather supplies.

  • Collect 3D shapes you find around your home.

  • Invite your child to begin building differnt 3D shapes using the craft sticks.

Notes

It was up to my six-year-old which shapes to build and how to assemble them. And he did great! He explored the 3D shapes around him and then began to build.

I would also begin tobuild shapes with my preschoolerthis way to help begin exposure to 2D and 3D shapes.

Havinggreat math toysat home helps build creative young minds! Try this Kindergarten shape activity today!

Did you tried this Idea?Mention @DayswithGrey or tag #dayswithgrey!

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I make out of popsicle sticks?

Use popsicle sticks to make the cutest puppets, beautiful vases, and colorful sensory tools that can be repurposed for fine motor skill matching and sorting. Popsicle sticks are such an inexpensive and versatile supply to have on hand to create creative and differentways to craft with popsicle sticks.

What is the strongest glue for popsicle sticks?

Hot glue is ideally the best kind of glue for popsicle stick crafts! Craft sticks need a strong adhesive to stick and stay together. If you don’t have a hot glue gun handy, you can experiment with white glue or a glue stick but from personal experience, they don’t work as well.

What ages are good for using popsicle sticks?

Popsicle sticks are for all ages! But they are an especially excellent supply to have on hand for crafts with toddlers and preschoolers, as well as for STEM projects for older kids.

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Beth

Beth, creator of Days with Grey, simplifies routines and promotes play-based learning for young children. With a master’s in education and 13 years of teaching, she shares practical activities for early development. As a mom of three, Beth’s strategies resonate with her 275,000+ Instagram followers. Join her to enrich your child's daily adventures through play.

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27 Popsicle Stick Craft Ideas (2024)

FAQs

How many popsicle sticks does it take to make a Ferris wheel? ›

What You'll Need for the Popsicle Stick Ferris Wheel Project: Popsicle Sticks (50 or more) Hot Glue or White Glue. Skewers.

How do you make the strongest Popsicle stick tower? ›

To make your tower as sturdy as possible, use wood glue instead of the basic white tacky glue. Each layer of the tower will be made up of four basic squares, so each layer will use 20 popsicle sticks. Lay two sticks vertically side-by-side across the two horizontal sticks to get the proper spacing.

How many popsicle sticks for a bridge? ›

BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING

Each participant, or team, will work with approximately 150 popsicle sticks and a sheet of construction paper. 2. The finished bridge shall be built from a maximum of 100 wooden popsicle sticks using white all-purpose glue (e.g. Titan School Glue, Elmers School Glue or LePages Bondfast).

How many popsicle sticks does it take to make a picture frame? ›

You will need 1 stick for each side of the frame. If you'd like a thicker frame, glue 2 sticks together to make a wide popsicle stick. Glue 4 popsicle sticks together to make a square and wait until the glue dries.

What is a popsicle without a stick called? ›

Unlike ice cream or sorbet, which are whipped while freezing to prevent ice crystal formation, an ice pop is frozen while at rest, becoming a solid block of ice. The stick is used as a handle to hold it. Without a stick, the frozen product would be a freezie.

How do you make a marshmallow launcher out of popsicle sticks? ›

Line up the two large popsicle sticks and tie them together at just one end. Try to tie the band as close as you can to the edge of the two-stick bundle. Hold the catapult with one hand, and use the other hand to pull the lever down. Release to launch your marshmallow.

How many popsicle sticks does it take to make a catapult? ›

Make a stack of five small popsicle sticks. Use two rubber bands to tightly wrap each end of the stacked popsicles. This is called a “fulcrum”. Insert one large popsicle stick between the first and second small popsicle stick in the five-stick bundle.

How much weight can 100 popsicle sticks hold? ›

Mere 100 popsicle sticks can be arranged and glued together into the style of Howe Truss bridge that can by itself carry the weight of over 200 pounds. Large and more elaborate popsicle bridges can withstand the weight of over 3,000 pounds!

How to make wheels out of popsicle sticks? ›

Step 1: Arrange three popsicle sticks (or six for a larger wheel, two to a side) into a triangle. Then using take or hot glue, secure all triangle points together. Step 2: Glue the ends of each Popsicle stick together, securing the three points of your triangle, and allow time to dry.

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