By Dave and Mary

Bumble Bee Decorations for Your
Front Porch Or Garden

Our bumble bee decorations are perfect for your front porch or garden. Your kids will love making these with you; we used scrap material, some yellow and black paint, and a few silver pipe cleaners.

Mary and I enjoyed making these with our grandchildren and they look fantastic on our porch and in our porch landscaping for summer.

They create lots of interest and add color too.


whimsical bumble bee art for the garden
Porch and garden bumble bee decorations



Make Our Bumble Bee Decorations

We made these from scrap wood but you can also purchase treated fence slats which are very inexpensive.


materials to make bumble bee yard decorations
Some of the materials you may need



Materials and Instructions for Our Small Bumble Bees

  • One piece of wood approximately 5 inches by 2 1/2 inches by 3/4 inches thick
  • Jig saw or band saw
  • Pencil
  • 1 round wooden ball (available at Home Depot/Hobby Lobby, etc.) Please note that I used threaded wooden balls (in photo above) I had on hand; there is no need to use those).
  • 1/4 dowel for mounting the bee (you can cut two small pieces for the eyes or use wooden buttons)
  • 2 silver pipe cleaners
  • Black and yellow craft paint
  • Exterior glue or hot glue gun
  • Brush
  • Polyurethane (optional)
  • Drill and 1/4 inch bit
  • Sand paper or sander



Materials for Large Bumble Bee Decorations

  • One piece of exterior plywood approximately 14 inches by 20 inches by 1/2 or 3/4 inches for the large bee
  • One 4 inch round Styrofoam ball
  • 7 silver pipe cleaners
  • Jig saw or band saw
  • Pencil
  • 2 silver pipe cleaners
  • Black and yellow craft paint
  • Exterior glue
  • Brush
  • Polyurethane (optional)
  • Sand paper or sander
  • Spray can of flat black paint for bee's head



Small Bumble Bee Decoration Tutorial

bumble bee yard decoration on dowel

Step 1

Begin by drawing the shape of a bumble bee on the piece of wood and cutting it out with the jigsaw or band saw. Sand the edges smooth.


cutting a bumble bee decoration using a band saw
Cutting the bumble bee shape on band saw



sanding the bumble bee decoration
Sanding the bumble bee



Step 1A - Optional

If mounting on a dowel like we did, drill a 1/4 inch hole along one edge of the body depending on how you want to display the bumble bee.


drilling hole in the bumble bee decoration
Drilling 1/4 inch hole in bumble bee



Step 2

Glue the round ball on the piece of wood for the bee's head. Let dry.


attaching the bumble bee head onto the bumble bee decoration
Attaching bumble bee head onto body



Step 3

Cut two small pieces of dowel for the eyes (I used wooden buttons) and glue to the round ball for the bee's eyes.


Step 4

Kids painted the bodies yellow then taped off sections to be painted in black. Use alternating black and yellow paint to cover the body as depicted.


kids painting bumble bee for bumble bee decorations
Bumble bee painting operation



kid painting bumble bee for bumble bee decorations
Painting the finishing touches!



Step 5

Paint the head either yellow or black.


Step 6

Cut and shape silver pipe cleaners into wings and antennae and glue to the body.


gluing bee wings on bees
Gluing pipe cleaner wings on bees



picture showing bee construction sequencing
Bee construction sequencing



Step 7

Insert dowel (may want to add a spot of glue) into the body and place in potted plants, yard, or garden as desired. We used a coat of polyurethane to protect them from the weather.


bumble bee decoration in yard
Bumble bee decoration on dowel in front porch landscaping



Large Bumble Bee Decoration Tutorial

Step 1

Draw pattern on large piece of wood to form a tear drop shape. Use a jigsaw or band saw to cut out the shape and sand edges smooth.


tear drop shape cut from plywood to look like a bumble bee
Cut a tear drop from plywood to resemble bumble bee



Step 2

Draw lines across body as shown. I used a large bowl for continuity.

Step 3

Paint segments with alternating black and yellow paint. We recommend using a bright yellow color. Let dry.


tear drop shape painted to resemble bumble bee
Painting bee shape



Step 4

While body is drying, paint the Styrofoam ball black - make take several coats of spray paint.


Step 5

When dry, attach the head to the bee with glue (I actually drilled a 1/4 hole in top of the bee's form and attached the head with both glue and a dowel).


Step 6

Form silver pipe cleaners into wing shapes (may have to attach three together to form one wing) and glue in place. We used a hot glue gun.


Step 7

bumble bee decoration on stand
Our bumble bee decoration
Form silver pipe cleaners into antennae and stick into head.


Step 8

I built a stand for our bumble bee as shown out of scrap wood. You can also hang this bee from an eave or place on your porch wall as an option.


Make A Bumble Bee Hive

Step 1

We painted a pot a tan color and Mary drew the pattern as shown on the pot.


painted plant pot brown
Painted a planting pot tan



painted plant pot brown and made to look like a bee hive
Putting the finishing touches on our bee hive
To ensure the bee does not fall over we placed a large rock (could use bricks) on the platform and covered it with the hive pot as shown. We attached it to the platform with two screws.

Step 2

painted behive with potted plant on top
Our beehive with potted plant
We then attached a potted plant (as shown above) on top of the hive with two screws for stability.


Step 3

Place on your porch and enjoy your bumble bee decorations!


bumble bee porch decoration
Summer porch whimsy using bumble bee decorations



We built a platform and support for our bumble bee as shown above out of scrap wood. As you can see in the photo, I attached a support for the bumble bee to a shelf bracket which in turn was attached to a block of wood.

You could choose to hang yours or drill a hole and insert a dowel for placement in a potted plant, garden or yard.


Look at the Bumble Bee Decorations
on Our Summer Porch

Collage of DIY bumble bee decorations for your porch
DIY bumble bee decoration ideas for your porch
Our summer porch is pretty cute with these DIY bumble bee decorations. We have more pics and tutorial for the wreath, pillow toppers and porch sign.



Mary and Dave, Founders of Front Porch Ideas and More
Hi! We're Mary and Dave, lifelong DIYers, high school sweethearts, and we both love porches. You've come to the right place for thousands of porch ideas.

Our Sponsors
The Porch Store


Shop for Porch Parts at Vintage Woodworks.


Use the PCA Visualizer to design your screen door

End Sponsors



Helpful Links

Enjoy shopping Amazon (affiliate link)

Popular Pages

What's New

Join Our Newsletter Family

Porch Designs

Porch Ideas for Mobile Homes

Find a Local Contractor

Build a Porch | Small Porches

Porch Columns | Porch Railings

Screened Porches

Porch Curtains | Porch Enclosures

Porch Landscaping | Vinyl Lattice

Porch Decorating | Porch Ideas

Shop

Navigation Aids

Home | Top of Page

Site Search | Site Map

Contact Us

Policies

Disclosure Policy | Privacy Policy

Legal Info


Please Join Us Here Also

Join us on Facebook for porch talk Join us on Pinterest Subscribe to get our updates. Thank you!


Get in touch with pre-screened local professionals for work you need done
Find a Trusted Local Pro




Copyright© 2008-2024
Front-Porch-Ideas-and-More.com All rights reserved.
No content or photos may be reused or reproduced in any way without our express written permission.

At no extra cost to you, we earn a commission by referring you to some products on merchant sites. See our disclosure policy.
We, Front Porch Ideas and More, confirm, as stated on our privacy policy, that we do not sell personal information.

All content here is solely for presenting ideas. We recommend consulting with a licensed, experienced contractor before you begin your project.
We make no guarantees of accuracy or completeness of information on our site or any links to other websites contained here.


Thank you for taking your time to stop by. See what's popular and new here.

small rocking chair



Mary and Dave, Founders of Front Porch Ideas and More
Hi! We're Mary and Dave, lifelong DIYers, high school sweethearts, and we both love porches. You've come to the right place for thousands of porch ideas.
--- Our Sponsors ---
The Porch Store

Use the PCA Visualizer to design your screen door

Shop for Porch Parts at Vintage Woodworks.

--- End Sponsors ---
Find Top-Rated Service Pros
Get in touch with pre-screened local professionals for work you need done

Our Newsletter, Front Porch Appeal
Learn more!


Thank you for being here!


small rocking chair
At no extra cost to you, we earn a commission by referring you to some products on merchant sites. See our disclosure policy.
We, Front Porch Ideas and More, confirm, as stated on our privacy policy, that we do not sell personal information.

All content here is solely for presenting ideas. We recommend consulting with a licensed, experienced contractor before you begin your project.
We make no guarantees of accuracy or completeness of information on our site or any links to other websites contained here.


Front Porch Home | Return to Top
Contact Us | About Us | Advertise with Us | Search | Site Map
Media | Privacy Policy | Disclosure | Legal Notice | What's New

XML RSS   Add to My Yahoo!  
By Mary and Dave Morris, Copyright © 2008-2024 Front-Porch-Ideas-and-More.com. All rights reserved.
No content or photos may be reproduced or copied in any way without our express written permission.


Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape