Easter Crafts

Enjoy Easter with your children and get crafty!

Bunny Bags

· paper lunch bags
· scissors
· decorations of choice
Take a brown or white lunch bag. Cut a v out of the top. With construction paper cut out ears and glue on to the top of bag. Make whiskers and draw a face or make one and put a handle at the top and instead of children carrying a big easter basket they can carry around their homemade bag.

Easter Placemats

· Old Easter cards
· Easter pictures from magazines
· your childrens drawings
· light weight cardboard or heavy construction paper
· glue
· contact paper
Gather up Easter cards from past years, pictures from magazines or your children's favorite drawings. Glue onto light cardboard or construction paper in decorative fashion the size of a placemat. Cover this collage with clear contact paper to seal the placemat. Be sure to have your child date and sign it. These make great gifts for grandparents.

Woven baskets

· pastel colored construction paper two colors
· scissors
· glue or stapler
Using one piece of paper cut horizontal straight lines about one inch in from side to side across paper, about 1/2 inch a part from each other. The paper should be covered from top to bottom with these slits. Next take the other color of paper and cut 1/2 strips. Weave these strips in and out of the slits in the first paper. When completed with all the strips glue the ends of the strips to the first paper to hold in place. Next fold up the sides to make a basket shape. Staple or glue in place. With a contrasting color make a handle on your basket and staple or glue. Basket can then be filled with shredded paper to make a nest in the bottom.

Easter Baskets

· pint milk or juice carton
· cotton balls
· pink yarn
· something to make eyes and nose (buttons, gumdrops or other candy or whatever you like)
Close the top of the empty carton. Position the carton on its side with the top closed edge vertical. Then on the side which is facing up, cut along the two long edges and the bottom edge. Hold flap up slightly and cut it to form two rabbit ears pointing away from the pointed end of carton. Cover the entire outer part of the carton with cotton balls including the ears. Use a small piece of yarn to make outline of pink for the inner ear. Use buttons or whatever you chose to make eyes and nose on the pointed end of the carton. Place extra cotton balls for tail. Fill carton with Easter grass and candy.

Belly Bunny

· Large Styrofoam Ball
· A plastic or unbreakable jar with a screw on lid (ex. Mason Jar, Jelly jar, Peanut butter jar, etc.)
· Construction Paper, White, Pink, and either Black, Blue, Brown, or Green
· Cotton Balls
· Toothpicks
· A pink, blue or yellow ribbon (optional)
· Glue
A grown-up should cut the bottom of the Styrofoam ball just enough so it will sit flat on the table. Then have the kids draw and cut out black, blue, brown, or green eyes, (if you want them to match your child's eyes), white bunny ears with pink ear insides (both ears should be cut so the bottom of the ear is cut straight across), and a pink nose. Glue a cotton ball in the center of the Styrofoam ball (nose) then glue the small pink nose to the center of the cotton ball. Glue the eyes on to the Styrofoam ball. While the glue is drying take the white bunny ears and the slightly smaller (should be same shape) pink ear insides. Lay the white ears down and glue a tooth pick (or two for more stability) to the front side of the white ear with half of the toothpick/s on the ear and half hanging off the bottom of the ear. Then take and glue the back side of the pink ear on top of the toothpick and white ear. Do this for each ear.

Next glue the Styrofoam ball to the top of the jar lid which can be decorated with a paper doily, markers or whatever you may have. Screw the lid on and whichever way the bunny faces, on the other side glue a cottonball at the bottom of the jar (tail). When the ears dry stick the toothpick, that is hanging out from the bottom of the ears, into the top of the Styrofoam ball. You can tie a ribbon around the edge of the jar lid.
Fill your bunny with jelly beans, or M&M's or a treat like raisin's or dried fruit. The child can take the bunny to school and share their treats with the class. It is really cute and if the child wants to get creative they can decorate the jar with stickers. After Easter hold crayons, marbles, pencils, etc.

Easter parade bonnet

· Paper plate
· construction paper
· crayons or markers
· glue
· yarn
Children can decorate the paper plate any way they wish. Glue on pieces of pastel paper, color flowers on plate, use your imagination. Tie yarn to each side of plate so it can be tied under child's chin.

Egg Decorating

The eggs:
The first thing you need is either hard boiled or blown eggs. If you use hard boiled eggs they must be kept refrigerated if you intend to eat them. Do not eat if they have been left out or painted with acrylic paints. If you want to keep your decorated eggs it is best to use blown eggs. However, blown eggs are much more fragile and harder for young kids to handle. To make a blown egg poke a small hole in each end of the egg with a large needle. Push needle into egg and twist around to break yoke. Hold the egg over a bowl and blow hard through the hole until the shell is empty. Rinse eggshells well and allow to dry. (save the raw eggs and scramble for breakfast).

Natural dye:
· Various food and plant items
· Sauce pans for each color
· Slotted spoon
· strainer
· cooking oil
· soft cloth
Pour 1/2 cup water in each sauce pan. Add cut-up fruit, vegetables or plants (carrots, blueberries, grass, coffee all work well). Bring to a boil and simmer until water turns color you like. Remove from heat and strain reserving water. When water is cool add boiled or blown eggs. Let sit until they turn the desired color. Remove with slotted spoon and allow to dry. Polish with small amount of cooking oil and soft cloth.

Crepe paper dye:
· Different color crepe paper
· hot water
· small bowls or cups
· slotted spoon
· cooking oil
· soft cloth
Soak crepe paper in hot water in individual bowls or cups for each color. Add eggs and allow to sit in water until he desired color is achieved. Remove with slotted spoon and allow to dry. Polish with small amount of cooking oil and soft cloth.

Food coloring dye:
· Food coloring
· hot water
· white vinegar
· small bowls or cups
· slotted spoon
· cooking oil
· soft cloth
For each color measure 1/4 tsp. food coloring in small bowl. Add 3/4 cup hot water and 1 tbsp. white vinegar to each color. Add eggs and allow to sit until they are the desired color. Remove with slotted spoon. Polish dry eggs with small amount of cooking oil and soft cloth.

Waxed eggs:
· Wax crayons
· paper towels
· egg dyes in different colors
· slotted spoon
· cooking oil
· soft cloth
Draw a heavy crayon patter on hard boiled egg. Dip egg in egg dye preferably a dark color. Leave in dye until desired color is reached. Remove with slotted spoon and place in 200 degree F oven for a few minutes until wax is melted. Wipe with paper towel and dip again in lighter dye to fill in pattern where wax was. Polish finished eggs with cooking oil and soft cloth.

Easter Lambs

Trace the outline of your hand with fingers spread out onto black constructiion paper and then have a parent help you cut out the hands and turn them upside down so the four fingers look like the legs and the thumb looks like the head. Then glue cotton balls all over and glue small pieces of white or pink construction paper for the eyes, nose, mouth and toes.

Growing Easter Baskets

Take empty 1/2 gallon milk cartons and cut down to about 4" high. With the leftover carton, cut a handle to staple to the basket. Cover with construction paper and decorate as desired. Fill about 2/3 full with potting soil, then generously cover with grass seed. Water daily; grass will appear in 4-6 days. Fill easter basket with decorated eggs.

Easter Bunny Ornament

Supplies Needed:
Plastic Candy Mold
Plaster
Water
Throw Away Cup
Popsicle Stick (or something to stir plaster with)
Ribbon (or wire, paper clips, popsicle sticks)
Newspaper (use for work area messes)
You can find candy molds for several holidays... not just for Easter.

Gather your supplies together. Lay out the newspaper, just in case some of the plaster gets a bit messy. Set the plastic candy mold down on the newspaper. Put some plaster in the throw away cup, and add a little bit of water at a time. You want this mix to be thick, yet thin enough to be pourable. Use a popsicle stick to mix the plaster and water. It's a good idea to use items that can be thrown away. It is NOT a good idea to use items that have to be washed in your sink! Plaster can clog your pipes. So whatever you use, make sure it can be thrown away when you are done with the project.

Once the plaster is mixed thoroughly, pour the mixture into the candy mold. Don't worry about adding too much plaster, you want to make sure there is enough plaster mix in the candy mold to cover the entire shape of your Easter ornament. Once you have added the plaster to each of the sections of the candy mold that you want to use, lift up the mold with your fingers and jiggle it a bit. This will help the plaster spread into all of the areas of the ornament. You may also see little bubbles pop out of the plaster, this is good, you are removing all of the air pockets!

If the plaster still isn't flat, or if there is an overflow of plaster on the candy mold, use your popsicle stick and with one of the flat edges move the plaster across the mold to remove the excess. Jiggle the mold again just to make sure the plaster is all even.

Use ribbon cut into about 2 1/2 inch pieces. Fold the ribbon in half. Once folded, dab plaster on the ends. This makes it easier to add the ribbon, and helps ensure that the ribbon will be embedded in the plaster ornament when the plaster sets.

There are many variations you can do with the ornaments, you can add the ribbon, or you can add a paper clip, or wire instead. Or you can add a popsicle stick. This can then be used in a planter, by pushing the stick into the dirt of the plant.

Let the plaster set up in the mold. As the plaster becomes hard, it gets warm to the touch. How long will this take? It depends on the humidity in the air, the temperature, don't be in a hurry to remove the plaster ornament from the mold. Once you have removed the plaster ornament, carefully break off any of the excess plaster from the edges. Let your ornaments set out over night on an old cookie sheet, this way you will know it is dry.

The ornament is cute just the way it is out of the mold. It is also very pretty painted. Use acrylic water based paints to paint the ornaments. After the paint is dry, put a coat of water based varnish over the entire ornament. You can hang the ornaments from your Easter tree or from a suction cup attached to your window.