Truth: making popsicles is not the only thing you can do with popsicle sticks! Whether it’s crafting, building, or sorting, there are so many creative art ideas and 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.
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 versatile play 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!
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.
Popsicle Stick Bookmark
These are the cutest little monster bookmarks require minimal supplies and are the perfect page holder for your little bookworms.
DIY Popsicle Stick Monsters
Get silly and spooky with these adorable popsicle stick monsters using craft sticks, googly eyes, and paint.
Bird Puppets
These adorable little bird puppets are fun for pretend play and for the tiniest toddler hands to hold onto.
Tree Stick Craft
Make these easy DIY popsicle stick cactus plants that can be used for ongoing fun sensory and imaginative play.
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.
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.
Owl Babies
A sweet and simple popsicle stick craft that uses popsicle sticks to help retell one of my all-time favorite board books.
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.
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.
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.
Alphabet Flower Garden
Develop alphabet recognition and awareness with this cute popsicle stick garden craft.
DIY Popsicle Stick Snowflakes
Grab a handful of craft sticks and create these beautiful geometric snowflakes during the next snowstorm.
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!
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.
DIY Stick Dinosaur
Create adorable popsicle stick dinos with your child that are easy and fun to assemble.
Popsicle Stick Dragonflies
These popsicle stick dragonflies are a sparkly little craft project to welcome the spring season.
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!
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.
Color Match Memory
Introduce color sorting for your preschooler with this simple popsicle stick memory game.
Shape Match
Strengthen your toddler’s fine motor skills and develop shape recognition and awareness using popsicle sticks and leftover egg cartons.
Fly in Your Shapes
Integrate shape learning and movement with this hands-on activity to help encourage shape matching and recognition.
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.
Toddler Color Pick
Improve fine motor skills, sorting, and color classification using popsicle sticks with this simple setup toddler activity.
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.
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Craft Sticks
I use craft sticks for this math activity and also for art activities. Grab a box, and you’re set for many easy ideas for kids.
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 your art supply box 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!
Frequently Asked Questions
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 different ways to craft with 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.
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.
