Upcycle project fun – playing with egg cartons

I love to play around with things that you would actually have lying around the house – and I think I have an item that is often overlooked in the crafty arty ideas for kids – the humble egg carton. Preschools use them alot for cute little Easter time ideas – but we have been thinking of ways to elevate it into the next crafty stratosphere.

How about creating a wallhanging design, made entirely from things you should have lying around your house – with bit of a Native American Indian vs 70’s tie-dye kinda vibe (is there such a thing?).

All you need is this….

An egg carton (with the flat lid preferably)

scissors

glue (pref PVA – but a glue stick will be fine too)

plastic bits and bobs – buttons/ lego/ bottle caps/ pegs/ bread tags.

a strip of newspaper/ magazine

string/ or wool

and some beads (totes ok if you don’t have any)

and paints – watercolours if you have them + a brush or sponge

a bowl of water

Here we go…..

Cut the lid off your egg carton, and cut one long side in the corners and bend down flat – cut fringing along this edge. Now cut all the little egg cup bits out of your egg carton – this is trickier than what you think – a definite adult job.

Trim these little shapes, and fringe a little with your scissors around the edges so they look like little jelly fish. Poke a hole in the tops with your scissors ( another adult job)

Paint your little shapes + the flat lid, with watercolours, or acrylics, or colour in with texters/ markers/ sharpies – whatever you have – even without any colour it will look cool!

Thread your little cups with string, you will need to tie a few knots to hold them in place, and/or use beads also as you thread to add some pops of colour. Create 2 x hanging strands of your little cups – make sure they are all facing downwards- this will look best when assembled.

Now work on your lid – you can really do what ever you like here – but I like the idea of creating a central design, by firstly gluing on a strip of newspaper, and then fringe with your scissors.

Then use your plastic shapes to arrange and glue in the middle to decorate – I like the idea of keeping it symmetrical like a mandala design. PVA glue good for this – will glue shapes on nice and strong.

Now assemble – hang your egg cup tails from the base – make a couple of holes, thread through and tie into position. And the top holes on mine were already there – so that made it super easy to tie my string at the top.

Allow to dry – and voila – funky upcycle wallhanging project complete!

A great project to talk about waste/ plastics/ recycling/ up cycling/ and our environment with your kids. Also a great way to talk about design – the egg carton is an amazing piece of everyday design that we often overlook and take for granted.

Happy creating!!

Tracy x