Paper-Mache Easter Egg Decorated with Construction Paper Scraps

Paper-mache egg decorated with construction paper scraps in various colors

A great craft to use up old newspaper and colored paper scraps too small for other projects.

Materials

• White glue
• Water
• Small yogurt container
• Parchment paper or large plastic storage box lid
• Plastic spoon
• Newspaper
• Construction paper scraps in various colors

Directions

Take a page of newspaper and wad it up about the shape and size of the egg you'd like.

Mix about one part white glue with two parts water in a small, clean yogurt container. On the parchment paper or plastic box top, dip strips of newspaper in the glue/water mixture and cover the wad of newspaper completely with the strips. As you wrap the strips around the wad of paper, gently squeeze and form the wad into a more smooth egg shape. Let dry for a day and then apply a second layer of glue/water soaked strips. Let dry for a second day.

When the newspaper layers are dry, tear up pieces of construction paper in different colors. Lay the torn up paper out on the parchment paper or plastic box lid and cover with the glue/water mixture. Since the construction paper is thicker than newspaper, soaking the construction paper makes it easier to work with.  Also spreading the colored paper out, makes it easy to select the color and shape you want to put on your egg next. Apply different colored paper in any design you'd like to the egg.

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.