It’s easy to accumulate boxes, egg containers and milk cartons in your trash, but give them a quick clean and you’re set up for hours of Easter fun for your kids!
Here are 5 ideas on how to do recycled Easter Arts and Crafts!
Easter is up this weekend, and many kids (and parents) on holiday sometimes find the extra time on their hands a challenge. But with a bit of help from this article and a good supply of trash, you’ll be surprised to see that your child can be creative without having to go anywhere and without spending a cent.
First, see what materials you can find in your house (or your neighbours): e.g. loo rolls, egg and milk cartons and if you don’t have it already, perhaps stock up on the following:
Scissors
Paint & Paintbrush
Glue
Cotton Wool
Left-over carton paper/magazines/newspapers
Eggs
Potatoes
If feeling super creative: a few feathers and plastic eyes.
1. Eggs in nest
Making your own egg decorations is easy. It’s preparing the eggs that can be the tricky bit, but also fun. Check out how to blow an egg first here:
Now you’re this far, you can start decorating – not just the eggs, but also paint the egg holders and pad them with whatever you can find, that resemble a nest. Of course a few feathers can really spark up your decoration!
2. Milk carton water cress
This one is an old classic in Northern European countries and ticks both the crafts and green finger boxes. On top of that, the watercress that you plant in your Easter milk carton decoration is delicious on hard boiled eggs on toast!
For this you will need carton milk containers. Cut off the bottom, decorate how you please (e.g. glue on green carton cut as grass and a yellow chick as below) and fill the bottom with cotton wool balls and add water. Then you add the watercress seeds and Tada, you have yourself an Easter water cress plant that will give you watercress in only 3-4 days! (see the speed of watercress here)
3. Loo-roll chick
A leftover loo-roll and leftover carton paper can take form into a cute chicken table decoration, that even young children can manage with a little help. Cut, cover and glue the roll in yellow or green carton or a leftover magazine or paper that matches the Easter colours. Cut out a paper ‘beak’ square, glue on and draw the eyes (or add them, if you’re feeling less eco friendly or have spare). Add feathers or use your own imagination and leftover crafts for decoration. See here for more inspiration on Easter-Loo-roll figures incl. rabbits!
4. Rabbit Face
Any leftover paper plates from a birthday or party? Why not make a hanging rabbit face decoration? First. draw your rabbit’s eyes, teeth and cheeks. Then glue on the cottonwool for that rabbit-cuteness! Cut one more plate in half, add some colored carton or magazine cut-out to fill the inside of the ears. Draw or glue the eyes on, dig 2 holes with scissors or hole punch and pull a piece of string through. Voila, rabbit looking out from balcony glass!
5. Potato egg print
This is one even your toddler can join in on, and only requires a coupe of potatoes, a knife and paint. Cut a potato in half, cut a pattern horizontally across the inside of your potato as you how you imagine the pattern on an Easter egg. Then give the halved potato to your child and let let them dip it in pastel colored paints. Use paper or a textile for them to stamp away on, and you will get a beautiful Easter pattern for your fridge or perhaps an Easter tea towel!
Easter holidays DIY does not just have to be about Easter, however. Let the kids rummage through the waste basket or carton bin in your basement and let their imaginations flow. You never know…it might even save you a trip to Toys’r’Us for that dolls house!
