Clothespin Airplanes for Preschoolers

There are plenty of really cute crafts out there, but sometimes the steps to make those crafts can be a bit daunting for young children. Paint is super fun, but it’s messy and due to drying time, doesn’t always mesh well with a preschooler’s attention span. Buying colored craft sticks is a great alternative and allows children the opportunity to build something without having to wait for paint to dry. Glue dots offer the same sort of relief. Glue takes time to dry while glue dots stick immediately. I’ve used a combination of glue dots and white glue in this project so that your little ones can have some good old fashioned fun making airplanes!

You will need:

Colored craft sticks
Large clothespins
Glue dots
White craft glue
Scissors

Full sized craft sticks are used for the wings, but for the tail wing you will need half of a craft stick. Cut a craft stick in half, then cut off the rounded end. Cut one side of the rounded end off (see picture above) to use for the vertical tail. You can get two tail wings from one craft stick.

If you haven’t used glue dots before they can seem tricky, but they really aren’t. The trick is not to try and peel the dot of off its plastic backing. Place the surface that you want the glue dot to stick to (in this case, the craft stick for the wing) onto the dot that’s still on the plastic backing. Press then lift. The glue dot will peel off the plastic backing and stay on your surface. Now press the craft stick, glue dot side down, onto the top of the clothespin. Repeat this for a second wing on the bottom of the clothespin. You can use 4 sticks total if you like, or just 2.

At this point, you may notice that the wing is a little wobbly. If your clothespin has a flat surface that may not be an issue, but with the larger plastic pins they may not be completely flat. We will glue them on at a later step. The key here is that we are allowing our preschooler to assemble this plane without too much assistance and very little waiting.

Use a glue dot to attach the horizontal tail wing to the back of the clothespin.

Press the flat edge of the vertical tail wing into the glue dot and pull it off the plastic backing, then press it onto the horizontal tail wing.

Your preschooler’s plane is finished! If you need to you can add white glue to any or all of the craft sticks to make them last longer.

Project created by Amanda Formaro for Kix Cereal. Amanda is a well-known craft expert and author of the  books “Rubber Band Mania” and “Duct Tape Mania”, the first two in a series of craft books for kids. She has been writing and crafting on the Internet for over fifteen years. Find out more on her blog, Crafts by Amanda, where she shares tutorials with step-by-step photos for adults and kids alike.