Chenille Stem Skeleton

You can bend him, you can twist him, you can even hang him from the ceiling! This adorable skeleton is a great project for Halloween. Kids will love working with chenille stems, aka pipe cleaners, to make this craft. For a larger view of this photo click here.

You will need

3 white chenille stems
2 white skinny chenille stems
1 large white pom pom
scrap of felt, any color (2" x 2")
scrap of white paper (2" x 2")
black marker
scissors
white craft glue

What you do

Cut skinny chenille stems into the following pieces:

5- 2" pieces (ribs)
10- 3/4" pieces (fingers)

Cut regular chenille stems into the following pieces:

5" (body and neck)
3" (shoulders)
2 pieces at 3 1/2" each (arms)
2 1/2" (hips)
2 pieces at 4 1/2" each (legs)
4 pieces at 1" each (hands & feet)

First, assemble the hands by gluing five fingers to a hand piece. Repeat for other hand. Allow these to dry completely before adding to your skeleton.

To assemble your skeleton, first twist the shoulder piece about 1" down from the top of the neck and body piece. Next, twist the hip piece at the bottom of the body piece.

Twist the ribs around the body section, leaving about 1/2" between each rib.

Twist the two arm pieces onto each end of the shoulders. Twist the legs onto each end of the hips. Twist the feet onto the ends of the legs.

Cut a small bow tie from the piece of felt and glue it to the neck just above the shoulders.

Glue the white pom pom to the top of the neck. Use black marker to draw eyes, nose and a mouth then cut them out with scissors. Glue these pieces to the pom pom for the face.

When the hands are dry, attach them to the ends of the arms with white craft glue. Let everything dry before lifting your skeleton.