What better way to kick off the holiday season than with an easy craft to try with the kids? If you’re looking for a way to keep the young (or older) ones busy this December, try out a holiday craft session and make these adorable critters for a wonderful winter scene. They’re made from 100% recycled paper egg cartons and can be given as an added gift from the kids to your loved ones.
While you’re making them, you can use this as a teaching moment to remind your kids why it’s important to purchase items in 100% recyclable paper packaging like egg cartons. Here are some important statistics you could share with them:
- There are 3.6 billion egg cartons produced each year in North America and nearly half of them are still in plastic
- By purchasing egg cartons that are made from 100% recycled paper – they are fully compostable and biodegradable and they’re better for the environment
- Only 9% of plastic is recycled, 12% is burned, and 79% ends up in the landfill and our waterways and takes 1,000 years to decompose
Now that we have the hard-hitting information out of the way, let’s get to the crafts! Gather your little ones around the kitchen or craft room, here’s what you need to know to make these:
What you’ll need:
Green Evergreen Trees
To make these easy green trees, you’ll need to cut around the ‘cups’ of the egg carton to cut out the center points. Cut out 3 of the middle points that are between each egg carton cup. Once you have them cut out, paint each one green. Once the paint is dry, stack each one on top of each other with the points facing up. If you’d like to secure these, place a dab of glue into the middle of two of the pointed parts and stack on top of each other.
Penguins
It wouldn’t be a winter wonderland scene without a cute little penguin! For the penguin, you’ll need to cut out individual egg carton cups. After cutting these out, paint each one black. Once the black paint dries, add a white half oval on the front of the egg carton to make a penguin belly. After, add two white circles for the eyes. When this white paint dries, add two black dots in the white circles to complete the eyes. Using extra egg carton scraps, cut out a small triangle and two penguin feet. Paint these orange. Wait for the paint to dry again and afterwards, glue the triangle between the eyes of the penguin for its beak. Then, glue the penguin feet to the bottom of the egg carton cup. Now your penguin is ready to wobble around your home or sit on your Christmas tree!
Rudolph
This little reindeer is happy to have a shiny nose made with 100% recycled paper this year. For this easy reindeer, cut out egg carton cups again. Paint the egg carton cups with your brown paint. Once the brown paint has dried, add a nose with the red paint and add two circles with the white paint for eyes. Wait again for this to dry. Once the white paint has dried, add two additional dots of black paint to complete the eyes. Using egg carton scraps, cut out the shape of Rudolph’s antlers and paint each one brown. Once the paint has dried again, glue these antlers to the back of the egg carton to complete your reindeer! Want to complete Santa’s reindeer tribe? Create eight more reindeer using egg carton cups with these instructions. Rudolph will be joined by Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, and more!
These are perfect and easy crafts for a snowy day or a classroom of students. If you’re a teacher, have your students bring in empty egg cartons from home. You could even poke holes in the top of each creation and thread a string through the craft to create a tree ornament or string many together to create a holiday garland to hang on a window or on the mantel.
Are you ready to create these crafts? We’d love to see them! Share with us using #ditchplasticpackaging or @ditchplasticpackaging on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. We love sharing our favourites! Here are some additional creations from Ashley and Krissany on Instagram.
