DIY Golf Ball Craft – Bees
Bee crafts provide a creative way to express your love for these wonderful insects. This project uses recycled golf balls to create figures that can be enjoyed in many ways. These bee golf ball crafts are a really cute decoration for your garden. And, they are great for gift giving! Any bee lover will be delighted with this whimsical recycling idea.
Use Old Golf Balls to Make Bee Crafts
Finding bee themed décor for decorations or gift giving is easy to do. Insects are very popular in crafting and design. Hundreds of items can be purchased in a variety of prices and sizes.
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However, when you can take a used item and transform- recycle – it into something useful, that is wonderful. Using recycled golf balls for a project is another way to keep trash out of the landfill.
Materials
In addition to a few old golf balls, you will need some small gauge wire, glue, paint and a few tools. Be sure to wear safety goggle when drilling or cutting wire.
When choosing the wire, 20 gauge is the best size. The wire should be soft enough to bend easily but stiff enough to hold up the weight of the golf ball.
Expert Tips
There are many fun bee related things to do with young children but this project is not for the very young. It is suitable for older children – and is also a great bee craft for adults.
Younger bee lovers can enjoy it too but they may need some assistance. Bending and cutting the small wires and drilling holes can be a little challenging.
If your participants struggle with fine motor skills, you could pre-drill the holes. Then, your helpers could paint and assemble.
Once you have created your golf ball bee crafts, they can be displayed inside or even outside in the garden.
Bee Crafts Promote Awareness
While this is an easy fun project to pass a lazy afternoon, it can be a learning experience as well. Appreciation for honey bees and all pollinators grows are we learn more about them.
If you are working with young people, or the young at heart – it’s a great time to discuss some bee basics. Is a Bee an insect or a bug? You may be surprised to learn the answer.
Why do bees sting and how can we prevent being stung? And, what about bee pollination? Is it really that important? All great topics to discuss when thinking bee.
What to do with Golf Ball Bees
Well, once you create your bees – now what? These are some of the things that I know people have used their recycled golf ball bees for:
- give as a gift to a beekeeper, teacher, friend
- use a plant markers in the garden or yard – to mark bee friendly plants
- décor inside for any room with bee themed items
- party decorations or favors for special “mommy to bee” or “bride to bee” events
*For durable outside use, use and acrylic sealer to spray each one of the bee figures.
Creating hand made projects is a great way to share time with family or just have a little relaxation for yourself. You can get as fancy as you want in painting your bees or keep them plain and simple.
If you want to make a little “home” for your bee friends, try this cute Bee Skep Craft – that’s where my bees live. And, maybe some painted bee rocks friends too if you plan to put them in the garden.
Of course if you want to create a really big bee – learning how to make a clay pot honey bee is just the project for you.
If you are into garden art, a hand painted garden art pole can be decorated with bee theme designs. These can be as simple or elaborate are you desire and can be made for a fraction of the cost of buying one premade.
Bees provide so much value to our lives. Bring a little sweetness to your life by making your own bee craft figures.
A neat lesson in recycling, your bee figures can be used to decorate inside or outside in the garden. Great gifts too!
How to Make Golf Ball Bees
Tools
- electric drill
- 3/64″ drill bit
- safety glasses
- wire cutters
Supplies
- 3 pieces golf balls
- 20 inches 20 gauge galvanized steel wire
- 1 can Yellow Acrylic Spray Paint
- 1 piece paint pen pink
- 1 piece Paint Pen Black
- 1 pkg small craft paint brush
- 1 tube super glue or equivalent
Instructions
- Wash and dry. You need one golf ball for each honey bee figure that you want to create. This is a great way to recycle old golf balls that you find on the range or in a thrift store. Wash each golf ball with soap and water, we want to create a clean surface before painting. Let the cleaned balls dry completely.
- Spray a base coat (yellow) on each golf ball – allowing time to dry. Then rotate the ball to complete spray painting the bottom of each.Not all bees are yellow but yellow and black are icon bee colors so we will stick with that!
- Legs and antenna. Use wire cutters to cut 6 wire legs ( 1 ½” long) for each bee and 2 (2” long) wires for the antenna of each bee. **Always wear safety glasses when cutting wires! Bees have 6 legs because they are insects.Antennae are another important part of the bee body. One of their functions is smell – yes, bees can smell with their antennae!
- Use pliers to shape your wires. Give antennas a nice small curl at the end – this works easier if you do both antennae at the same time.Shape legs in a soft bend and curl the feet sections to avoid sharp edges.
- Use a marker to mark locations for legs and antenna on each golf ball. Legs should go in a line alone each side near the bottom of the ball. A pair of holes for the 2 antennae go near the top of the face. Drill the holes ½“ deep.*If you don’t have a vice to hold the golf ball steady – use something else to steady it.
- Check to make sure the wire fits into the drilled holes. Now add a small dot of glue to the end of the wire and insert each on into the proper hole. Optional : Glue a small screw onto the back of the ball to simulate a bee stinger. – While this is a cute idea for an adult gift – it can be dangerous if someone steps on it – ouch!
- Spray everything with another coat of base paint – yellow and let dry completely. Don’t rush this part. The amount of time needed for the paint to dry will depend on the temperature and humidity in the air.
- Use paint marker to draw strips on the yellow body. Draw 2 eyes beneath the antenna (just for looks – bees have 5 eyes!)Painting the legs black also will allow some of the yellow to show through giving the illusion of stripes.
