Since the release of the first “Despicable Me” movie, the world has fallen in love with the little yellow creatures that serve the super villain Gru. A few years later, the Minions already have their own film and are one of the most popular ideas for theme parties, children's birthdays and fancy dress for carnival and Halloween. Children love them very much and are very happy about games and craft projects with this theme. In this article we have collected great ideas and instructions that you can use to make cute Minions with your children. Get inspired!
These creatures have a simple shape, so they can be made from many different materials. We would like to draw your attention to various ideas that promote creativity and are a lot of fun at the same time. Most craft projects are suitable for children, but some require adult help.
Minions are made from inexpensive materials
Crafting is fun with any material, but craft projects using standard household materials are particularly popular because they develop children's imagination. You can make a creature yourself from an empty toilet paper roll, the plastic packaging for the Ü-eggs or simple paper plates. Popsicle sticks are also suitable for creative and inexpensive DIY projects and you can use them to create funny creatures quickly and easily.
If you want to make Minions, you should consider the main characteristics of the creatures. They have yellow skin and usually wear blue dungarees with a “G” mark, black boots and gloves. They also have one or two eyes and wear special glasses. Not all Minions have hair, so you can decide for yourself whether to design them with or without hair. Here you will find a great idea for a yellow and blue paper plate creature. Colored paper is used for the legs and hands and the hair is made with black pipe cleaners. Eyes and glasses can be made from colored paper. Alternatively, you can still use felt.
Instead of throwing away the empty toilet paper rolls, you can keep them and use them to create beautiful crafts. Funny creatures can be created from these, which can then be used as children's toys or pen holders. You can either paint the toilet paper rolls or cover them with colored paper. We recommend the second option because most rolls are made from brown cardboard and cannot be dyed well. With the colored paper, however, you can turn the toilet paper rolls into real minions. This requires yellow, blue and black paper, which you should cut out according to the shape. Bottle caps are used as eyes in this project, but you can also come up with your own alternative.
If your creatures are only used as toys or decorations for the children's room, you can also make them more stable. To do this, the toilet paper rolls are filled with newspaper to form a dome and the top side is closed with painter's tape. Then apply a layer of paper mache to the sides and curved end and allow to dry.
Now the Minion can easily be painted with acrylic paints. Using some rolled up and painted newspaper you can make 3D arms and attach them to the Minion with a glue gun. Googly eyes are perfect for designing the eye(s). Finally, create some yarn as hair, glue it to your head and the cute creature made of toilet paper roll is ready.
For fans of upcycling projects, we recommend using the old plastic packaging from Ü eggs to make Minions. They are usually yellow and their shape corresponds almost exactly to the figure. A surprise egg Minion can therefore be easily designed by just designing the face and possibly the clothing. To color the bottom part of the plastic packaging blue, you can use blue nail polish. For the eyes and glasses, all you need is some craft paper that you stick to the top of the box.
For real fans we offer a creative DIY project for a Minion necklace. It's super quick and easy to do and is sure to be very popular with children. To do this, you should create creatures from surprise eggs. One minion is enough for a necklace. For this project you will need a string, a large needle, black and white paper, colorful ironing beads, pompoms and glue.
The first step is to make two holes in the top of the surprise egg and thread the string through them. Then cut out a narrow strip of black paper and some circles from white, gray and black paper. Next, glue the paper onto the egg to create the eye and glasses. Finally, decorate the string with perler beads and pompoms to create great jewelry for the child. You can make beautiful necklaces for children in less than 15 minutes. They are also a great DIY gift idea for children who love the little yellow creatures.
Paper Minions are made with children
If you are looking for a creative activity for your little child, then you can create cute creatures together. Colored paper is a suitable material for this purpose and is suitable for small children as well as for children in kindergarten and primary school. Making Minions out of paper is a great idea for children's birthdays and theme parties with this theme. For smaller children, it is best for adults to cut out and prepare the various shapes. Then it's the children's job to make a cute creature out of the parts.
Another great craft project for kids are these fun paper hand puppets that they can make as Minions. All you need are simple white envelopes, acrylic paints and brushes for painting and cardboard in black, gray and white. The envelopes are first sealed and then cut into two parts. Two hand puppets are then created from an envelope. Now the halves are painted and decorated accordingly so that they look like Minions. In addition to the yellow creatures, you can also use thempurple evil creaturesdesign that appear in the film “Despicable Me 2”.
You can also make your own lanterns for the St. Martin's Day parade with the children. You can create a lantern from the beginning using tracing paper and lantern base or simply decorate a white or yellow paper lantern. Using a ready-made lantern can save you time while still producing beautiful results.
To make a lantern, you should first paint the paper yellow. The easiest way to do this is to use spray paint. Then you should decide whether you want to design just the head or the entire body. If you are only making the head, then you should only make the eyes with glasses, the mouth and, if desired, the hair and stick them to the lantern. If you would like to make the creature with its dungarees yourself, then you should paint the lower part of the lantern blue.
Would you like to conjure up beautiful crafts with the children that can then be used in everyday life? If yes, then you can consider either the toilet paper roll pen holder or this cute Minion bookmark for kids. To do this you need cardstock or cardboard in yellow, blue, black and gray, as well as googly eyes and a tassel. First, suitable pieces for the body, the dungarees and the glasses are cut out of the cardstock and then glued to the bookmark.
The tassel makes it easier to find the corresponding page in the book, which is why it should be attached to the top. To do this, punch a hole with the hole punch and tie the tassel with a string. Finally, just stick the eyes and mouth on the bookmark and you're done!
Create cute creatures with iron beads
If you and your children enjoy crafting with iron beads, then this craft project is perfect for you. This requires colorful ironing beads in the colors of the Minions and a pegboard. You can use our example as a template, or find another suitable craft template on the internet. The finished design is ironed with the iron and that's it. Children can also make these creatures and play with them or decorate the children's room.
Make minions out of felt
Felt is another popular material forCrafting cute Minions. It can be sewn or glued with hot glue. You can also use it to make entire creatures or accessories for a costume yourself. Here you will find a great idea with craft instructions for a small minion as a felt finger puppet. In this case, the material for which the children would need your help is sewn.
Make your own glasses
If the children want to dress up as Minions for Carnival, Halloween or a theme party, you can make a costume yourself. Simple clothing can be used for this as long as the top is yellow and the pants are blue. However, the creatures wear special glasses that you can make yourself out of felt. You can find simple instructions below.
If you want to make glasses for your little Minions, then you need craft felt in white, gray, brown, yellow and black. First cut out the white eyeballs and brown circles for the eye. The frame of the glasses is cut from gray felt the same size as the eyeballs, but the middle is cut out. Finally, a black band is glued to the glasses to attach to the head. Since these glasses do not have a viewing hole, they are worn on the head and not on the face.
