Paper Cactus Craft

The finished cactus craft | Photo: Heather Ross

Want to get crafty this summer and don’t know where to start? Try this easy, cute cactus craft! You might already have all the supplies you need.

All the supplies you’ll need | Photo: Heather Ross

You will need:

• White construction paper
• Colored pencils
• Scissors
• A pencil with an eraser

Step One:

Print our cactus sketch or draw your own shape using the pencil on the white construction paper. Do this drawing toward the edge of the paper to save time cutting and some paper.

Tip: Be sure to include your child when picking out the shape of the cactus.

Cactus Sketch | Photo: Heather Ross

Step Two:

(Parent Only)

Carefully cut out the cactus and place it next to the hole on the construction paper.

Step Three:

Trace the cutout cactus onto the construction paper.

Step Three:

(Parent Only)

Carefully cut out this cactus as well.

Step Four:

Now that you have two identical cactus cutouts the fun can begin. If you went with the same design pictured, you will need pink, green, yellow and brown. Feel free to change up colors as you like.

Step Five:

Color the cactus pot brown on both sides of both of your cactus cutouts. For a fun personal twist, feel free to color the pot any color you like and write you and your child’s name on it.

Tip: Outline the edges carefully before you color in the center. This outline will give your cactus that classic artistic style.

Step Six:

Color the flower of the cactus pink (or whichever color is your favorite).

Cactus cut-outs with the yellow line design | Photo: Heather Ross

Step Seven:

(Optional, this part may be difficult)

Outline the body of the cactus along the remaining edges with the yellow colored pencil. Add two curving yellow stripes to the body of the cactus. The center yellow lines should touch in the top near the middle of the bottom of the flower. The center yellow lines should be spaced ¼ and ¾ from the top of the pot apart (see photo).

Step Eight:

Color the body of the cactus green.

Tip: If you completed step seven, color each of the three remaining white spaces separately.

Step Nine:

How to cut the cactus | Photo: Heather Ross

Use a ruler and trace a thin pencil line halfway up one of your cactus pieces and halfway down the other so that the two lines would meet if you placed one piece over the other.

Step Ten:

(Parent Supervision)

Cut along the newly traced lines, only going halfway down each piece but in different directions.

Your cut cactus pieces should look like this | Photo: Heather Ross

Step Eleven:

Hold both pieces upright. Slide the cactus piece with the slit in the bottom over the piece with the slit in the top, then open your 3D cactus by pulling the pieces gently away from each other from the side.

Step Twelve:

Place your lovely creation on a desk, by a window or anywhere you’d like!

Finished cactus | Photo: Heather Ross