Beaded Pipe Cleaner Corn Craft

A couple of years ago my daughter’s third-grade teacher did a craft with her class to create beaded corn. They were talking about Indigenous tribes in the United States, including their food, dress, housing, dance, and traditions. After talking about the Three Sisters (three important crops to Indigenous cultures in the United States, learn more here), she had them each create their own corn cob. I absolutely loved how she did it and wanted to share.

You can have your students create yellow corn or the more colorful calico corn (also known as Indian corn or rainbow corn.)

Materials:

• brown or tan pipe cleaners (also known as chenille stems)
• pony or craft beads in yellow, orange, red, black, brown, and white

Instructions:

1. Take four pipe cleaners and line them up so they are even on each end.
2. Twist them together in the middle.
3. Evenly spread out each pipe cleaner piece so you have room to add beads onto each one.

4. Start putting beads onto each piece. You don’t need to follow a pattern here (unless you want to!), just put beads on using the colors you have chosen. Be sure to leave about 1-1.5 inches near the end so you can twist them together to create your husk.

5. Once you’ve added beads to each piece, you are now ready to shape your corn and create your husk. Gather all the pipe cleaner pieces together carefully so the beads don’t fall off.

6. Twist the ends together several times to secure the beads. Fan out the ends to create your husk.

That’s it!

You can play around with colors (think about adding purples, pinks, and dark blues) or keep the same color palette as you go. Either way, you’ll have a great fall craft that ties into your curriculum!

Keep scrolling to see a quick video of how to put everything together!