This is a sponsored post for ooly, however all opinions are my own. There may be affiliate links in this post which means that if you click on a link and purchase something, I may receive commission.
Earth day is coming up and what better way to celebrate it but by making a DIY bug hotel (also called insect houses) for our beautiful earth’s creatures. We are always looking for DIY Bug Hotel ideas.
My boys love bugs and bugs deserve a special place to hang out; don’t you think? I found an awesome way to make a Bug Hotel DIY worthy of being featured on Million Dollar Listing LA.
How to Make a DIY Bug Hotel for Earth Day
DIY Bug Hotel Materials
- ooly lil paint brush set
- markers
- ooly double ended markers
- ooly lil’ poster paint pods
- ooly dot-a-lot dot painting set
- ooly itsy bitsy stickers
DIY Bug Hotel Directions
Cut Out the Doors and Windows
Building a bug hotel is pretty easy. I cut out the doors and windows before I gave them to the kids to paint. You can trace the doors and windows before cutting if you want. I just chose not to. Keep the craft knife far, far away from the kids. I put mine on top of the refrigerator in case I need to go back and make adjustments.
Paint Brushes
Make sure you have some paint brushes in all sizes. Ooly’s lil paint brush set works the best for me.
Paints
Bust out the paints! Lil’ poster paint pods are great paint pods because they are water soluble and wash right out of fabric. So, there is room very messy days.
Each child has different personalities and an individual creative style, so it was fun to see what they created while they painted their bug barn. The paint pods also come in glitter and neon.
I loved using the dot-a-lot dot painting set to make the flowers for mine.
The dot-a-lot dot Painting Sets are dimensional, puffy craft paints that harden when dry. They are great for so many other craft projects too. They come in neon brights and pearlescent.
Markers
The big bright brush markers are great for little hands and wash off easily too. If you can’t find those, any of the OOLY markers are great.
I waited until the paint dried and then we started drawing.
The Door Handles to the Bug Barn
Next, we have to make the door close to keep those critters in until we let them back out! The bug barn is simply for catching some beautiful bugs and earth’s finest critters. But after viewing them and admiring them, we let them go back out to their real house, the earth!
First, you will need to find a bead spacer. You can find them at any bead shop or craft store. Then get some twine and glue sticks and get ready to make a bug barn door handle.
Pull the twine through the hole in the spacer and tie a knot. Cut off the remaining thread from knot. Glue on the door with hot glue gun. It’s really easy, just make sure the spacers are lined up like door handles would be. When it’s dried, you can close the door and tie the twine in a bow. It’s really cute!
Netting
For the top of the bug barn, you can use the craft knife to remove the middle part. Cut a square of the netting (I got this netting from the dollar store in the wedding party section) and place it on top of the bug barn and press the plastic top onto it so it’s caught inside. Then you can cut around the edges, take it out and hot glue it on.
The windows are tricky because you have to glue inside but I put spots of the glue inside and then carefully place the netting on it.
I had some extra pieces of stones in my beading pile, so I used these to put around a window.
We also used ooly’s markers , ooly perfectly permanent doubleended markers, and the ooly itsy bitsy stickers.
This was such a fun Earth Day craft for us. There were so many fun compartments to the DIY bug Hotel and the kids were so creative. The best part? Using our ooly tools! What are you crafting for Earth Day?
