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DIY Egg Carton Easter Egg Nests

With the accumulation of little Easter gifts we’ve been receiving at our many Easter celebrations over the last week, we’ve gathered a nice little collection of baby chicks. The kids loved seeing a little yellow chick nesting in amongst a basket of colourfully wrapped chocolate Easter eggs.

We popped loads onto our DIY Easter hats for the parade. and decorated the house with them. But after the initial excitement of a “cute little yellow fluffy” thing wore off and they moved on to the appeal of chocolate, I began to think about what I could do to repurpose these little yellow chicks.

Even though here in Australia we’re welcoming Autumn, I’m not one to pass up a learning opportunity. So we channelled some Spring vibes for an afternoon and made these paper bag birds nests using simple craft supplies. From there, we had an instant learning opportunity about the seasons and spring baby-animals.

Brown Paper Bag Egg Carton Easter Egg Nests

Time: prep – 5 minutes, assembling – 25 minutes
Ages: 4+ (STEM learning)

You’ll Need:

An egg carton
Brown paper bags
Scissors
PVA glue
A paint brush (for gluing)

To Make:

1. Cut and separate the ‘cups’ from the egg carton.

2. Cut the brown paper bag into lots of strips, about 1 cm wide.

3. Place strips onto the egg carton and using the paintbrush, spread glue all over the strips. Similar to a decoupage or papier-mâché style.

4. Arrange your strips artfully as though resembling a messy twiggy birds nest and cover completely in glue. Then leave to dry.

Once dry, pop in some decorated eggs like these lovely decoupage eggs or some yummy chocolate eggs, and a little yellow fluffy spring chick or two.

If your craft box is due for a re-stock, here’s our 10 top essentials. For More Easter crafts, see this gorgeous Easter Egg Paper Basket and this Easter Egg Bunting.

DIY Egg Carton Egg Easter Nests – a STEM spring themed learning opportunity. #nannylife #spring

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Once we made these egg carton easter egg nests, the kids were so into the spring theme that we even popped out to the garden to plant our apple-core sees. Not sure if they’ll survive the winter but it was the teachable moment that counts!

>>> Do your children get excited about spring-time and the arrival of baby animals?

img source: spring chicks

A Good Friday Pipe Cleaner Easter Bunny

Oh hello long weekend, so lovely to see you. Even better than an extended long weekend (this nanny is on holidays), is a rainy day. Milky tea and naughty caramel Easter eggs on the couch with a movie, interspersed with board games and a good book – school holidays are the best.

Except if you’ve got kids, I’m sure they’re about to go stir crazy being cooped up inside, rained out on the first day of school holidays. This Pipe Cleaner Easter Bunny craft is so ridiculously easy (I’m not kidding). It’s guaranteed to keep those rascals busy for at least half an hour, plus playtime, so I suggest you pull out the craft box and put together an invitation to create.

To Make: Pipe Cleaner Easter Bunny Craft

Ages: 4+ (3+ with help)
Time: prep – 5 minutes, assembling – 15 minutes

You’ll Need:

Pipe Cleaners – 2 long ones for the ears and feet, and one for the whiskers
Google Eyes
Styrofoam eggs
Felt, card, or fabric (to make the nose)
________

To Make:

1. Start with the ears. Take a pipe cleaner, and starting in the middle, fold in the ears to make a loose “M” shape in the middle.

2. Then loop in the ends so that the ears become a bit of a halo on the bunny’s head.

3. Take your styrofoam egg and push the ends of the pipe cleaner into the styrofoam to secure. You could also glue down the ends using a hot glue gun. Mould the pipe cleaners to look like bunny ears.

4. Next up we need to make the feet. Grab another pipe cleaner and fold into a heart shape, leaving the ends long enough to push into the base of the bunny. Note: if you bend the bunny so that he’s in the middle of the heart shape, he will stand up and be quite stable.

5. Using PVA glue, stick on your googly bunny eyes and. Then cut your final pipe cleaner into little bits (they’ll be your whiskers), and glue onto your bunny styrofoam egg.

6. Finally, glue the nose on using a material and colour of your choosing.

And that’s it, a Good Friday easy kids craft for Easter!

Make this Easter bunny styrofoam egg using simple items from the craft cupboard. #Easter #nannylife

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We made these Easter bunnies using just a few simple items we always have stocked in our craft box essentials. Pipe cleaners are often the hero of the DIY supplies, perhaps because they’re malleable enough that kids can go wild with their imagination and assemble whatever form or shape they’re envisioning.

>>> What are you up to today for Good Friday?

DIY Paper Plate Easter Basket

(Olivia here again with another super fun craft!) We’re pretty EGG-cited that the Easter Bunny is almost here, so we’ve created a paper plate basket, ready to collect everything he leaves behind!

I’m also sharing a list of non-chocolate things to fill your plastic eggs. We recommend you download and print to pop a copy up on the fridge, and even pass around to your nanny families!

To Make: DIY Paper Plate Easter Basket

You’ll Need:

2 Paper plates
Ribbon
Plastic eggs
Clear dry glue
Scissors
Stapler
+ all your favourite crafting materials to decorate eg – feathers, sequins, glitter, confetti, pom poms, wool, beads, buttons, felt pieces, cotton balls, stickers, foam shapes, tissue paper, jewels, etc.

Tip: Need crafting supplies? Here’s 10 Essentials for your Craft Box

To Make:

1. Cut 1/3rd off the top of 1 plate in a zig-zag line.

2. Cut the same off the other plate in a straight line.

3. Decorate the outer side (back) of your zig-zag paper plate by gluing your favourite crafting materials and allow to dry.

4. Staple the 2 plates together to form a basket.

5. Staple or tie ribbon to either side of the back plate to create a handle.

Now that you’ve got a basket – here’s a list of 30 non-chocolatey egg fillers; (free download)

>>> Download your free printable here <<<

DIY Paper Plate Easter Baskets + non-chocolate easter ideas (easy kids crafts) #nannylife

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Wishing you an EGG-cellent Easter & long weekend! For more Easter themed activities, check out these great crafts: Washi Tape Easter Bunting, Easter Egg Hunt Carry Bag. Happy Crafting!

>>> What are your favourite non-chocolate(y) egg fillers?

________

Olivia is a career nanny of 5 years and craft extraordinaire. Having travelled Australia working with many families, Olivia now resides in Sydney and cares for 7 children aged 15 months to 1o years old. Craft + diy activities feature prominently in their daily schedule. You can follow Olivia on instagram {@oliviasfoster} for crafty ideas and activities.

DIY Easter Egg Hunt Carry Baskets

Have your children got a fun Easter Egg scavenger hunt coming up? If they’re involved in a few different activities, such as childcare, kindergarten, playgroup etc., chances are your little ones might have a few on the schedule.

So they’re going to need a cute little carrier to hold their colourfully wrapped chocolate treasures. This Easter Egg Hunt Carry Basket is seriously easy and a great little craft activity to fill in a quiet afternoon.

To Make: Easter Hunt Egg Baskets

Ages: 3+
Time: prep – 15 minutes, assembling – 10 minutes

What You’ll Need:

A plain coloured carrier such as these paper bags
Washi Tape
Ribbon
Glitter glue pens
Masking tape or glue
Easter egg decorations (such as these)

To Make:

1. Make or design your Easter egg decorations. Find ours here.

2. Lay your paper bag carrier on a flat surface.

3. Glue or stick your decorated Easter egg onto the middle of the bag. Variation: you could also paint or have the children draw their own designs onto the bag instead of using a pre-designed Easter egg decoration.

4. Then cut a strip of washi tape to the length of the bag and stick onto the top to create a line of pattern from one edge to the other.

5. Take your ribbon (any colour you like) and tie in a bow. Using double-sided tape (or masking tape doubled over) fasten the bow onto the top right corner of the basket on a slight angle.

6. Now take your glitter glue gun pen and carefully write the words “Happy Easter” onto your Easter egg and leave to dry. Ta-da you have a gorgeous colourful Easter Hunt Egg Basket.

Note:

We did this step last so that it was the final step in the method, meaning we’d have a finished product that would let us see the end result but also let us pack away the craft supplies and tidy up whilst waiting for it to dry. You could also write onto the Easter egg before Step 2 or in advance so that you needn’t be worried about smudging your work.

Easter egg scavenger hunts are such fun for kids. Remember, you don’t have to use chocolate either! #Eastereggs #nannylife

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Pop on your arm and away you go in search of the Easter bunny and his eggs! This basket would also be a cute little party favour bag for an Easter themed party or if you’re giving little Easter gifts to your friends.

>>> Do you have an Easter egg hunt planned for the kiddos?

Washi Tape Easter Egg Bunting

This Easter egg bunting was so much fun to make! The beauty is that you can completely customise your own colours and designs, letting the children have autonomy and control of their designs.

You can make the bunting as long as you like and pop it up on display to decorate your Easter themed space. We plan to use this to decorate our Easter scavenger hunt tent.

To Make: Washi Tape Easter Egg Bunting

Ages: 4+ or Kindergarten
2+ with careful guidance and prep done in advance
Time: prep time – 20 minutes, assembling – 15 minutes

You’ll Need:

Kid-safe scissors
Masking tape, glue, double-sided sello tape or blu tac
Coloured card stock or paper
An Easter egg stencil or shape
4 washi-tape designs
String, about 1 ½ metres in length

To Make:

1. Start by cutting out your Easter egg shapes. We used 4 different coloured cards to create a pattern of alternating colours. For the younger children, you could have your Easter eggs pre-cut. For more info on patterns, see these fun activity sheets.

2. Once you have your Easter eggs, lay them out in a long line and arrange them in a pattern. E.g. blue, yellow, pink, orange, repeat.

3. Cut strips of washi tape and carefully stick onto your line of Easter eggs, arranging the washi tape evenly. Repeat the process with each washi tape leaving an event amount of space between each strip of washi tape. Tip: it’s much quicker to line the eggs up and stick a line of tape onto them all at once, then trimming the edges afterwards.

4. Your eggs will now be stuck onto the surface. Carefully pull them up and then trim the edges so that you once again have individual eggs.

5. Once again, arrange your eggs in a pattern face down (tricky, I know) and pop a dab of glue or double-sided tape onto the middle of each egg at the top.

6. Cut your string down to size, leaving an even amount of space on either side of the eggs to let it hang properly. Then press your sting down onto the sticky tape so that your eggs are not all connected in a line onto the string.

7. Carefully hang your Washi Tape Easter Egg Bunting to decorate your Easter themed space and enjoy the festivities!

Notes:

You’ll want to have a clean surface that the tape can stick to and then be pulled off easily, such as a wooden or plastic table. Paper underneath will not work properly.

In hindsight, it could be easier and less time-consuming to stick the rows of washi tape in lines onto the coloured card and then cut out the Easter egg shapes.

This is a great activity for some cutting practice and hand-eye coordination. Kids love cutting things and it helps children to develop their fine motor skills. Make sure the children use safe scissors and that you’re constantly supervising. Remember to cut in a direction away from your body and always be seated whilst cutting. For more cutting practice see these printables.

Variations:

For a different style, use Easter themed paper or fun patterned paper instead of plain coloured card stock. Or have the children decorate their Easter eggs by drawing or colouring them first. For an early learning component, let the children write the letters for “Happy Easter” onto each Easter egg in the bunting for a spelling, writing and reading activity.

Washi Tape Easter Egg Bunting – a fun easy kids craft! #nannylife #Easter

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