Paper Cup Dragon Craft

Dragons have long captured the imaginations of children and adults alike. Crafts allow children, and adults, to express their creativity artistically, and are extremely useful for rainy days when playing outside isn't an option. Creating dragon crafts combines the best of both worlds: embracing your dragon-themed inspiration and entertaining yourself by creating a craft that can be enjoyed for weeks, months or years to come.

Preparing the Dragon's Body

Trim four or five paper cups so that they are 2 or 3 inches tall from the solid base of the cup to the new rim. Use a hole punch to punch two holes in all but one of the cups, each hole directly across the cup from the other and about 1/2 inch from the rim of the cup. Use a pencil to poke a small hole in the center of the base of the final cup. Paint each of the cups with poster paint or acrylic paint. The color of your dragon is up to you. Consider adding smaller details after the base color has dried, such as metallic paint smudges with a dry brush, three-dimensional effects with puff paint, or detailed scales with a fine-bristled detail paintbrush. Metallic puff paint and metallic paint markers work well for creating scales.

Forming the Dragon's Body

Cut a piece of ribbon about 1 1/2 feet long. Tie a knot in one end of the ribbon. String a jingle ball onto the string and slide it down to the knot. String at least three beads onto the string and slide them down to the jingle ball. The more beads you use, the longer your dragon's tail will be. Cut a drinking straw into 1-inch-long pieces. Use any color of straw you like. String the paper cups with the holes in their sides onto the string with the pieces of drinking straw between the cups. String a piece of drinking straw after the last cup, then string the final cup, the one with the hole in the center of the base, onto the string with the opening of the cup facing away from the other cups. Tie a knot in the string, inside the final cup, and cut away any excess string.

Finishing Touches

Draw a dragon's head on a piece of poster board, card stock or cardboard. Color the dragon's head with poster paint, acrylic paint or markers. Cut out the dragon's head and use a hot glue gun to glue the head over the opening of the final cup (the cup with the hole punched in the center of the base). Use a hole punch to punch a hole in the top of the dragon's head, as centered as possible. Cut a piece of ribbon about 3 feet long and tie it to the hole in the dragon's head. Tape two pennies or dimes to the inside of each of the cups with holes in their sides, between holes and the ribbon, to help balance the dragon's body. To walk the dragon, simply pull the dragon along by the string attached to his head.

Optional Details

Customize your dragon further by adding additional details. Create wings out of feathers or construction paper and glue them to segments of the body, add beads or buttons to represent scales, use pieces of pipe cleaners or felt for feet, or add orange or red tissue paper to the head to represent fire coming out of the dragon's mouth. The options are limited only by your creativity. For a more musical dragon, consider stringing jingle bells onto the string when you string the cups together, one or two bells on the inside of each cup, so that when the dragon is pulled along, it jingles merrily. If you prefer a different type of dragon, consider stapling string or ribbon to every other body segment, attaching the string or ribbon to a craft frame or coat hanger, and hanging your dragon as a mobile. Alternatively, glue craft sticks to the insides of the body segments to form a dragon puppet.