This is a fun decorative paper bird craft, an upcycled DIY that works as a colourful plant pot topper, summer garland, or cheerful tropical home decor. A brilliant scrap paper craft if you love bold patterns, quirky birds, and easy, creative makes.

Cockatoos have always been one of my favourite birds. I think that probably goes back to childhood, when wild cockatoos would regularly land in our garden. They always looked so dramatic with their bright yellow crests and striking white feathers. Absolutely beautiful… although not exactly quiet. If you’ve ever heard a cockatoo squawk, you’ll know they could wake the whole neighbourhood.

Those noisy childhood visitors became the inspiration for this colourful bird craft.

This simple tropical bird craft is a fun way to turn everyday scraps into cheerful decorations. Using thin cardboard, wallpaper samples, and glue, you can create bright, patterned cockatoos that work beautifully as plant pot decorations or strung together into a playful summer garland.

It’s an easy paper bird craft, a little addictive, and a brilliant excuse to use up all those lovely patterned paper scraps you’ve been saving.

Materials Needed

• Thin cardboard (cereal box card works perfectly)
• Wallpaper samples
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Wooden skewers (for plant pot decorations)
• Colourful twine (for garlands)
• Black pen
• Cockatoo template

You can also use:

• Gift wrap
• Patterned craft paper
• Old magazines
• Decorative scrapbook paper

How To Make Paper Cockatoos

Making the Cockatoo Collages

Step 1. Draw Around The Cockatoo Template

To begin this bird craft, I used the same cockatoo template from my felt lampshade project. First, I placed the full template onto thin cardboard and drew around it using a pencil. The side of an old cereal box is perfect because it is sturdy enough to hold its shape but still easy to cut. To create birds facing both left and right, I flipped the template pieces over before tracing them. It’s an easy way to get variety if you are making several birds for a garland.

This cardboard layer acts as the strong backing for the finished paper cockatoo.

Step 2. Cut The Template Into Sections

Next, I carefully cut the cockatoo template into smaller sections. This makes it much easier to collage each part of the bird using different papers and patterns. I separated mine into:

• Beak
• Claw
• Crest
• Head
• Body
• Wing
• Tail feathers

Step 3. Trace The Pieces Onto Patterned Paper

Using the smaller template sections, I drew around each piece onto colourful wallpaper samples and cut them out.

This is where the fun really starts. You can mix stripes, florals, geometric prints, or bold tropical patterns to make each cockatoo completely different.

Step 4. Collage The Cockatoos

Now for my favourite part of this paper bird craft.

Using a glue stick, I layered each patterned paper section onto the cardboard cockatoo base, slowly building up the bird piece by piece.

A few little tips that worked well:

• Yellow paper looked best for the beak, claw, and crest
• A simpler or less busy paper worked nicely for the head
• I added the eye afterwards using a black pen
• Bolder wallpaper patterns really stood out on the wings and tail feathers

Making Bird Pot Decor & Garlands

Step 5. Cut Out The Finished Birds

Once the glue had dried, I carefully cut around the finished cockatoos. This step really makes the colourful shapes pop. Because each patterned paper combination is different, every bird ends up with its own little personality.

Ways To Use Your Paper Bird Craft

Step 6. Plant Pot Decorations

To turn the cockatoos into tropical plant pot decorations, I glued each bird to a large wooden skewer.

Once dry, the skewers can be pushed into plant pots where the colourful birds sit proudly among the leaves. They look especially good with large leafy houseplants.

Step 7: Summer Garland Decoration

These colourful paper cockatoos also work really well as a decorative garland. Glue, tape, or stitch the finished paper parrots onto colourful twine, spacing them evenly along the string.

They would be perfect for summer parties and Boho-themed decor.

Why I Love This Bird Craft

This is one of those simple decorative paper crafts where no two birds ever turn out the same.

It’s colourful, relaxing, and a lovely way to reuse scraps that might otherwise get thrown away. Wallpaper samples are brilliant because they already come in beautiful patterns, but gift wrap, magazines, and leftover craft paper all work just as well.

And once you start mixing papers, flipping templates, and making different colour combinations, this tropical bird craft is surprisingly hard to stop.

Conclusion

If you enjoy quirky nature-inspired paper crafts like this bird craft, there are plenty of other colourful makes on Pillarboxblue to try next. My mini tropical paper house plants are another tropical-inspired project using printable vintage leaves and tiny handmade pots.

If you enjoy decorative paper projects, my paper embroidery vases are among my most popular crafts and beautifully combine paper and stitching. And for another playful nature-themed make, my map paper moths and colourful foil-leafed beetles turn old maps into colourful, characterful decorative insects.

Yield: Cockatoo paper galand and pot decorations

Tropical Paper Cockatoo Bird Craft

Print

Turn wallpaper scraps, gift wrap and cereal box cardboard into bright tropical paper cockatoos. A cheerful bird craft for garlands, plant pots, summer parties and quirky home decor.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Active Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $1

Materials

• Thin cardboard (cereal box works well)
• Wallpaper samples or patterned paper
• Cockatoo template
• Wooden skewers
• Colourful twine
• Black pen

Tools

• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Pencil

Instructions

Step 1: Trace The Bird Template

Draw around the full cockatoo template onto thin cardboard to create a sturdy base for your bird craft.

Step 2: Cut Template Sections

Cut the template into separate sections such as the beak, crest, head, wing, body and tail feathers.

Step 3: Trace Onto Patterned Paper

Draw around each template piece onto wallpaper samples or colourful scrap paper and cut them out. This is the fun bit because you can really play around with patterns. Bold florals, stripes, geometric prints, or tropical colours all work well. If you want some birds facing left and others facing right, simply flip the template pieces over before tracing them.

Step 4: Collage The Bird

Use a glue stick to layer the patterned paper onto the cardboard base. Mix bright colours and bold prints for a tropical feel.

A few little tricks that worked well:

• Use yellow paper for the beak, claw and crest to mimic a cockatoo
  Keep the head paper simple so it doesn’t look too busy
  Use brighter or bolder patterns for the wings and tail feathers
  Slightly overlap pieces for a neat layered collage effect
  

Slowly building up the layers gives this bird craft lots of colour and personality.

Step 5: Add Finishing Details

Draw the eye with a black pen and trim around the finished cockatoo.

Step 6: Display Your Bird Craft

Glue the finished birds to wooden skewers for plant pot toppers or attach them to twine to create a colourful tropical garland.

Space them evenly along the string and hang them across a shelf, wall, window, or outside for a summer party decoration. Because you can flip the templates and mix endless patterns, a garland of colourful birds looks wonderfully playful.

Notes

This cheerful bird craft is colourful, simple, and a brilliant way to upcycle wallpaper scraps, gift wrap, and cardboard into quirky tropical decorations.