Now that homeschooling has begun, my kids are officially in art school. So far, we've spent much of our time experimenting with art supplies, making a mess and enjoying each other's company. I find with three young kids of different ages, I need activities that can involve all of them - it's very tricky to have each kid doing different things. I suppose this gets easier as they get older and gain independence!
Since the quarantine began, I've been collecting all of our egg cartons, empty paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls and delivery boxes for endless creations (and have asked family to put aside for us). I often just give the kids boxes and a roll of painter's tape (again, hours of entertainment), but this week we worked on fun, creative Easter projects. Our creations and step-by-step instructions are below! We hope they inspire you!
1) EGG CARTON NAPKIN RINGS!
Just because Easter celebrations will be more intimate this year, doesn't mean you can't make them extra special. I was going to buy Easter napkin rings on sale last year, but never got around to it. Since most stores are now closed, we decided to make our own!
Supplies needed:
1 empty cardboard egg carton
1 empty paper tower roll
Brown paint (I used tempera, but anything would work)
White glue (you can also use a glue gun)
Moss, dried out (we collected this weekend from our forest walk)
Cadbury mini eggs
Aren't these adorable?! They are SO easy to make for kids out of recyclable items found in your own home. We can't wait to set them out for our Easter brunch and although we won't be able to celebrate with our extended family, we hope this Easter will be a memorable one for our kids too. Let me know if you make these for your Easter table, I'd love to see!
2) MINI EGG CARTON EASTER BASKETS!
My kids LOVE making little surprise gifts for people, so we brainstormed other ways to use up our empty egg cartons - and voila! Little gifts that the kids will deliver to our neighbours' doorsteps to let them know we are thinking of them. These are very simple to make - my four year old and seven year old made these with no assistance from me (beyond set up and clean up!).
Supplies needed:
1 empty cardboard egg carton
1 piece of white paper (I used a thicker card stock)
Paint (We used acrylic, but anything would work depending on your desired effect)
White glue (you can also use a glue gun)
Basket filling (I used yellow Easter grass saved from last year, but moss would look cute too!)
Eggs or treats (I suggest wrapped candy, not mini eggs, if intended as a gift)
A note on step 3, paint both sides of the white card stock the same colour you paint your baskets. When the paper is completely dry, step 4 is to cut the paper into strips which you will then glue into the little carton cups for your basket handles.
My kids are ecstatic with these and can't wait to walk around our street to deliver them to doorsteps. I look forward to seeing your creations and hope your children get as much joy in giving them to others as mine do!
3) EASTER EGG MOBILE!
My kids really wanted to dye eggs this year but I didn't want to waste any, so we created an Easter Egg mobile! This is a fantastic larger project - it does involve quite a bit of preparation, but the execution is so much fun for all ages. All three of my kids, ages 2, 4 and 7, were involved and they loved it! I suggest having older kids do the tracing and cutting (cardboard can be tricky), then everyone joins in for the decorating and assembly.
Supplies needed:
Cardboard (I used from a packing box)
White paper (I used a thicker card stock)
Oil pastels (If you don't have oil pastels, try crayons)
Watercolour paints
White glue (you can also use a glue gun)
String (for the decorated eggs)
Ribbon (for hanging the mobile)
Driftwood (or wood of your preference - I love collecting driftwood for projects)
STEPS 1-3: Start by cutting out an egg shape from the cardboard, this will go in between two decorated eggs (to add thickness and weight to the mobile). We made a huge mobile and had 42 eggs in total. Since each egg is double sided, this equals 84 decorated white egg cutouts. It sounds like a lot, but the kids decorated them within an hour (a busy hour is a great hour)!
STEPS 4-6: Make sure you cover the work surface as oil pastels and watercolours can stain. First, use the colourful oil pastels to draw patterns, pictures, messages, and designs on each egg. Once all eggs are designed, paint over the eggs with watercolour paints. This gives a very beautiful, stained glass effect as the oil pastels repel the watercolour, but the paint soaks into the areas that aren't coloured with the pastels. We learned this technique from my many years participating in parent and me art classes! Let everything dry.
STEP 7: Arrange half of the dry painted eggs on your work surface (remember they are double sided) and measure out string.
STEP 8: Glue the egg on one side of the cardboard eggs. You can use white glue or a glue gun. My seven year old loves the glue gun, but we ran out of glue sticks mid-project.
STEP 9: Once dry, you will flip over the cardboard egg, place the string on top, apply glue, then attach final decorated egg. My two year old did this part, it's a great fine motor skills exercise! If you used white glue, lay flat and let dry for a few hours. Attach ribbon on top and hang! Our mobile is a little time capsule of Easter 2020 - it's an impressive project and the kids are very proud of their collaborative effort.
Thank you for stopping by! If you have any questions about these projects, let me know. I wish you a peaceful Easter weekend and look forward to sharing more of our crafting adventures soon!