Sometimes you can create interesting crafts and toys from waste materials. For example, a caterpillar from an egg carton.
My daughter and I made this fashionable caterpillar (Age 1 year, 10 months). I saw ideas for similar caterpillars on several forums, and I changed something myself.
We will need an egg carton, from which we cut off several cells (the number of which may depend on the age of the baby). I cut one side off an egg carton. We painted each cell with a different paint. At the same time they repeated the colors. While the caterpillar was drying, thin sausages (legs, nose and mouth) and balls (eyes) were molded from plasticine.
As a result, we got the following blanks.
Glue on the eyes and nose. Then plasticine was glued on top of the first cell (you can drop glue, whatever is more convenient for you), and on it a piece of feather edge - this is the hairstyle of our fashionista (alternatively, you can use a colored cotton ball). Glue the paws on the sides. Our plasticine didn’t stick to the paint very well, so we glued it on the inside.
That's all!
For egg carton crafts, you need to use those boxes that are made of pressed paper. Plastic is not the most malleable material for painting, cutting and gluing.
Panel
Using sharp scissors, cut flowers from the convex parts of the boxes, paint and glue to a colored base. You can use buttons or colored spring strips for quilling as flower cores. For stems and leaves, use colored paper or other craft materials.
Suspension
The same flowers from the convex parts of egg boxes can be hung in the form of garlands on thick threads. To prevent the flowers from slipping along the thread, secure them inside each flower with small buttons.
Crocodile
Paint, glue, scissors and colored paper are all you need to build this alligator. Use two egg boxes: for the head - 6 pieces, for the body - 10. To make the head movable, fasten the two boxes with wire.
Caterpillar
To keep the caterpillar moving, fasten each cell with thread or wire.
Present
Have you baked homemade cookies or made homemade sweets? Decorate an egg carton as a gift and place the prepared sweets inside, lining the cells with thin tissue paper or foil.
Ship
Children always have a collection of mini-toys - small dolls, soldiers, animals or people from Lego sets. Let's send them “sailing” by seating them on boats made of egg cartons. With sails, of course!
A game
A simple and useful game for children 2−4 years old that trains attention. Take colorful bricks or squares from the Lego Duplo set. On a piece of paper, draw a “scheme” of arrangement by color and invite your child to arrange the cubes according to the instructions. Then you can turn the diagram over and start over. If the child gets carried away, you can try to assemble the required set in time and try to improve the result.
Turtle
Cute waterfowl turtles. You can make a whole family or even a flock!
Helicopter
To get a helicopter body with a tail, you need to cut out the convex part of the egg carton along with the partition. To secure the screw, a furniture nail and a piece of eraser or cork will be suitable, which will fix the nail from the inside.
From such seemingly inconspicuous-looking waste material as egg trays, you can make very beautiful objects. Once you make one craft, you will stop throwing egg trays in the trash. The first thing you can try to do with your children is tulips. By cutting the tray into cells, you will get an almost finished tulip; all that remains is to slightly correct its shape, paint it and make a stem if necessary.
For painting it is better to use acrylic-based paints. Flowers without stems are used to decorate home furnishings, cards, invitations, etc.
Roses from their trays
You can also make roses. How to make a rose craft from a tray with your own hands? The answer is very simple. To do this you need to prepare:
- egg cartons;
- scissors;
- green corrugated paper;
- paints and brush;
- glue or glue gun.
Step 1. Divide the tray into cells (cones) using scissors. Make four cuts on each piece. The result is a blank of four petals. For one flower you need four of them.
Step 2. Open the cone and process the edges of the petals: give them a rounded shape, cutting off sharp corners. Do this with all the blanks.
Step 3. Make cuts on each part towards the center, this will simplify the process of gluing the flower. Using a wooden stick or the handle of a brush, you can curl the edges of each workpiece.
Step 4. Paint the blanks in any color you like. To add naturalness, the centers of the petals can be painted with a lighter tone. Allow the workpiece to dry.
Step 5. Gently bend the tips of two opposite petals in half and glue them together as if the bud is closed. Glue another pair of petals to this base.
Step 6. Do the same with the second and third workpiece. And we cut the fourth into separate petals and glue them to the resulting bud. The master class on making roses from trays is completed.
With the resulting roses you can decorate a ready-made photo frame or create your own. In the center of a rectangular cardboard base you need to glue a photo, leaving a few centimeters at the edges. Empty edges are filled with flowers. You can make a wreath for the door in the same way.
Crafts with children
Paper egg cartons are great for crafts with kids. You don’t mind throwing them away if things don’t work out. But this activity develops perseverance and stimulates creative imagination.
An interesting option for crafts with young children is a caterpillar (centipede). To make it, you need to cut a row of 5-6 cells from the tray, paint it, decorate it with ribbons and threads. Antennae and paws can be made from chenille wire. A little imagination, bright colors and the toy is ready.
For those who like to draw, you can make a box for crayons. If you color the cells according to the colors of the crayons, you can kill two birds with one stone. There will be a place to store crayons, as well as the ability to sort them by color, while developing logical thinking in children.
The cell (cone) from the tray serves as the basis for creating various animals, birds and insects. You can make a penguin, a hare, a whale, a turtle, a ladybug, a chicken and much more that your imagination suggests.
Everything ingenious is simple. A tray for a dozen eggs is a ready-made base for a ship. We install the mast, sail and go!
From an egg carton you can make original boxes for jewelry or handicrafts. The boxes are first coated with white acrylic paint inside and out. Then they can be painted and covered with decoupage napkins.
Papier-mâché crafts
Many people use trays to create crafts using the papier-mâché technique. The boxes are crushed, soaked in water, mixed with glue (PVA, wallpaper, paste). It makes an excellent mass for modeling. Having collected a large number of trays, you can make a figure for the garden, etc.
On the Internet you can find a large number of photographs of crafts made from egg trays. They can be used as:
- feeders;
- bouquet of flowers;
- containers for growing seedlings;
- boxes and much more.
You won't have the urge to throw egg cartons in the trash anymore. They can and should be used for creativity. Create beauty with your own hands!
Photos of crafts from egg trays
