Just the other day, the girls were saying "Mummy, we haven't done painting in a long time". Well, I think two weeks is considered a lonnngggg time to them, but in any case, I agreed that it was time for me to get out of procrastination and do something fun with them.
As you know, I don't really like to spend money to buy materials for crafts but would rather search through the house and see what we can come up with. In this week's Creativity 521, we made use of a recycled material to do something simple but fun - Egg Carton Animals.
Materials:
1) Egg carton
2) Painting supplies
3) Glue
4) Scissors
5) Marker
6) Felt, foam paper, or coloured paper
7) Pipe cleaners
8) Googly eyes
Firstly, the kids chose three animals each to work on. Once they were happy with their choices, I helped them to cut out the egg carton individually so they could start to paint it with a base color.
Remember, when it comes to art and craft, skies can be purple and trees can be blue. There's really no right or wrong in it and even up till today, I'm still learning to stop myself from influencing their choice of colours.
Continue painting until all the animals have their base colours. Leave to dry.
Next, it's time to work on the details. I let them decide if they want googly eyes or draw eyes using a black marker. After that, they chose the felt color for the features of the animal, for instance beak, ears, mouth, nose and so on.
Use glue to stick the materials in place. This can be a little tricky for the toddler, so Mummy or Daddy might need to step in to help. It's also about parent-and-child bonding, right?
Lastly, cut out felt to form parts of the animals' bodies, including tail, wings, fins and feet. You can also make use of pipe cleaners to add a different feel. It's all about your creativity and imagination.
Ta-dah! And we are done with all six animals within an hour or so. I was pleasantly surprised that Angel drew eyelashes on some of the animals, cute right? Which is your favorite of all?
Once again, I am thankful to have this series ongoing on the blog, it really gives me the motivation and push that I need to find time to craft with the kids. I could see how happy they were that Mummy 'finally' crafted with them this month. Cheers to more kid-friendly craft projects!
P.S. They are thrilled with their new animal friends and have decided that we will be telling a story tonight with them. This should be fun!
For more craft ideas and DIY tutorials, visit my gallery here.