crafts garden crafts Toilet roll crafts upcycling

How to build a bug hotel {Part 2}

How to build a bug hotel - the gingerbread house blog

A few weeks ago I mentioned how we started work building our own bug hotel. The kids love learning about all the different animals they see in the garden so we thought a bug hotel would be fun.

What we used to build a Bug Hotel

bricks
flower pot
corrugated cardboard
bamboo sticks
cardboard tubes

how to upcycle a wooden pallet

How to build a bug hotel

A bug hotel can be as simple of complicated as you want. Our garden is quite small but we found a quiet corner we thought would be perfect. We roughly measured where we wanted the bug hotel to go. It was already on small stones but we cleared it of weeds.

How to build a bug hotel
We had de-constructed our wooden pallet so took 3 of the wooden slats from the pallet and cut them to the same length, placing the first one down on the ground. My 7 year old placed bricks on top and started experimenting with the structure. We wanted to use plenty of different materials, as well as make big and small spaces, to attract all kinds of insects.

How to build a bug hotel
We tried to re-use as much of the pallet as we could and were able to use some of the wooden blocks from the pallet. These were perfect for holding everything in place as we could nail through the pallet slats and blocks and it held everything together really well.

We also used an old plant pot to make a smaller bug hotel. This was stuffed with pieces of bamboo and sticks from the garden.

how to upcycle a wooden pallet

You can see from the photos that our bug hotel started to come together quite quickly. We had some items from our recycling bin, such as a huge cardboard tube, as well as an old plant pot which was cut in half. These were great for filling in gaps and providing all sorts of nooks and crannies.

Or Bug Hotel tuned out quite thin which is why it was important that the structure was solid. We kept nailing the different levels together to make sure it wouldn’t get blown or pushed over. When we had made it as high as we wanted we finished it off with a roof. This was made from more pieces of wood from the wooden pallet, hinged with a piece of lead. My husband always surprises me with the things he can produce from his shed!

This is our finished Bug Hotel and it had been in our garden for 6 weeks now. The children finished it off with chalk signs which I thought was quite cute! Both the children have really wanted to lift up bricks to see if any bugs have moved in and that’s been the only downside. We don’t want to move things around but the children want to see what creatures are living in it!

how to make a bug hotel from a wooden pallet

I hope you like our Bug Hotel. Have you ever made one? If so please leave me a link so I can come and see.

19 Comments

  • Reply
    gingey bites
    June 4, 2017 at 10:44 am

    Despite being 31 I know my other half would LOVE to build a bug hotel! I’m going to show him this post 🙂

  • Reply
    Mellissa Williams
    June 4, 2017 at 10:51 am

    That is a great bug hotel. When we stayed at Bluestone Wales they had one there. It’s a a brilliant idea to link to the science curriculum too

  • Reply
    Jenni
    June 4, 2017 at 4:19 pm

    This is a great idea. My nanny children would love to do this. I just need to find the bits needed first!

  • Reply
    Ickle Pickle
    June 4, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    I would really like to do this with Pickle – thank you for showing me how 🙂 Kaz x

  • Reply
    MELANIE EDJOURIAN
    June 4, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    What a lovely idea. It’s great for children to do as they love this sort of thing. Mine love anything to do with bugs.

  • Reply
    Sarah
    June 4, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    I love it! Yours has turned out amazing! I wish we had the room to make a large hotel like this!

  • Reply
    Amanda
    June 4, 2017 at 10:56 pm

    I don’t have any kids but my little cousins would love this! Will have to give it a try soon 😊

    Amanda | https://ldnrose.com

  • Reply
    Angela Milnes
    June 4, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    This is pretty cool and looks like a fun outdoor activity for the summer.

  • Reply
    Ana De- Jesus
    June 5, 2017 at 11:25 pm

    Can you make a hotel for the ants who keep making our house their home lol All jokes aside though the bug hotel is a very cool concept x

  • Reply
    Mummy Times Two
    June 6, 2017 at 10:52 am

    This is such a cool bug hotel. If I was a bug a I would choose to live there for sure!

  • Reply
    Fatima
    June 7, 2017 at 1:01 am

    I definitely like your bug hotel but have never tried making one myself. You’re indeed very creative and this is a great idea!

  • Reply
    Stacey MacNaught
    June 9, 2017 at 9:54 am

    This looks absolutely amazing. My two year old would love it. If the weather holds out next week, it might be a project for us. I’ll Tweet you the photos if we have go!

  • Reply
    How To Build A Bug Hotel With Kids
    February 18, 2018 at 3:09 am

    […] The Gingerbread House has a tutorial here […]

  • Reply
    Encouraging wildlife to your garden * The ladybirds adventures
    April 27, 2018 at 7:00 am

    […] when my toddler is a little older we might add one to our garden. I found a great tutorial from The gingerbread house that I think we will follow when we get round to making one. This one from Red Ted Art is great if […]

  • Reply
    Turn your pumpkin into a bird feeder - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    November 14, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    […] quite big. Instead we removed their little hats and filled them with seeds. We placed them near our homemade bug hotel for all our little garden visitors to […]

  • Reply
    How to encourage outdoor learning with living things. Projects & Play!
    July 24, 2019 at 12:05 am

    […] How to Build a Bug Hotel – The Gingerbread House […]

  • Reply
    10 Nature Craft Ideas Your Kids Will Absolutely Love – Icoms Cloud
    November 12, 2023 at 10:15 am

    […] it: Get construction inspiration for your bug motel at either CBC Parents or The Gingerbread House. It’s not as difficult as it […]

  • Reply
    How to Build a Family-Friendly Garden Your Kids Will Love - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    July 10, 2024 at 7:46 am

    […] can also include interactive features such as a bug hotel, fairy garden, or mud kitchen where kids can explore and learn about nature while having fun. These […]

  • Leave a Reply