Do you know what a screen bug is?

As I’ve talked to some people, they had no idea what I was talking about and I was kinda surprised.

Below is a picture of a screen bug I’ve probably had for 20 years. I feel old saying that, but my grandmother gave them to me. Apparently, I’ve always loved screen bugs, and never realized that maybe my love for them was more intense than others on a recent call with my mother.

Screen bugs are meant to hang on your screen to “remind” you not to walk through the screen. Yes, that’s a thing, and yes I’ve done it more than once. On sliding glass door screens…not on my screen enclosure.

Having my boys create their own screen bugs was something that came to me during our creative time, when honestly I was running low on ideas and was staring at my old screen bugs.

I want them to have their own creation decorating our screens too. That’s how the idea got started.

This wasn’t about buying new crafting supplies. Again, we were using what we had.

It was a great way to upcycle some of our old bottle caps that I had been saving for a rainy day. (I have a huge stack left so feel free to email me more bottle cap ideas)

I will say the paint took longer than expected. All of those little bottle cap ridges, start painting the bottom first and then go to the top.

If I was going to redo it, I might try nail polish instead. I feel like it would layer better and last a bit longer. If all you have is acrylic paint, you can totally use that just plan on adding multiple layers of paint.

We happened to have googly eye balls to add on, but if you didn’t you could also paint on eyes and details of your bugs. Stickers would work too, just think about things that might last longer in your weather. I’m fighting heat and rain in South Florida.

Floral wire fits perfectly within screen mesh, we cut some legs down, the length can be based on your preference and hot glued them on.

With smaller projects like this I have started letting my 7 year old use his own hot (low temp) glue gun. He feels so grown up, and independent.

I mean look at these little guys. I thought they came out much cuter than expected. I think the eyeballs really made the difference.

Then I let the kids decorate the screen. They were quite proud of their work and I love looking at them. They asked if we could make more, but I want to see how long these last and see what other improvements we might need to make.

I had a hard time taking pictures with the sunlight and the screen, but hopefully you can see exactly what a screen bug is. I guarantee your kids would love to decorate your screen.

Use what you have and get creative. Bring Screen Bugs back! 🙂