Egg tracing

Sometimes the simplest things create great ideas. Just cutting a few egg shapes of different sizes out of an old cereal box, so they can be traced, may instigate a crafting time.

Cutting out other shapes to trace such as a diamond which can be traced again and again until a pattern is made across a picture of an egg, can inspire other ideas for egg decorations as well.

All that's needed is thin cardboard like an old cereal box, paper, pencil, and non-toxic pens or crayons.

Paper Mache Easter Egg

Here's a goopy little craft. It's about the size of a real egg, and made with two rolled up balls of newspaper secured with masking tape, ripped up junk mail, and glue. Glitter is optional.

Just use 1/2 of a newspaper page for the first ball, and the other half for the second ball. Make the second a little tighter and smaller. Then wrap with masking tape to hold the two balls together in an egg shape.

Use little torn pieces of brightly colored junk mail. We used a clothes catalog. The smaller the pieces, the easier they secure to the egg.

Put the egg on a plastic lid, so it doesn't stick during the paper macheing process. On another plastic lid, put about a quarter size of white, non-toxic glue like Elmer's. Use about the same amount of water, and mix together.

Dip the pieces of torn paper through the glue mixture, and lay them across the newspaper egg until it is covered with colored paper. A little glitter could be added. It could even be painted after it is dry with non-toxic poster paints. The decorations begin with your imagination like attaching beads or dry beans and different shaped dry pasta.

The sticky fun is in the doing it together. As can be seen from the picture, it doesn't have to be perfect.

TP Rolls for Leprechaun or Fairy Houses?

Toilet paper rolls sometimes are used for crafts, and sometimes sit in the cupboard. Before recycling them, brush off the dust, check for spiders, and put them in a special kids' box. Sometimes those kids' imaginations just need a little something new to create with.

Perhaps those toilet paper rolls will become Leprechaun or Fairy houses. Perhaps they'll be rolling tunnels for matchbox cars.

I was thinking of using them like Lincoln Logs and cutting notches at one end of each roll, so they could fit together. The kids may be in the mood for that, or they might think of something better!;)