Make It Monday: Egg Carton Flowers

It's been rainy and dark and gloomy. Hello, April. We made these flowers to bring some color and cheeriness into the house.

And because it was Monday.

Supplies per Child:
3 cardboard egg cups                                                             Toothpick
3 pieces (4" x 1 ½") of green craft foam                                 Scissors
3 green chenille stems (or brown, if that's all you have!)        Paint/brushes
6 squares (3" x 3") of  colored tissue paper

Directions:

1. Using an empty egg carton, cut out three egg cups and trim them down.

2. Paint the egg cups. Set aside to dry.

3. Cut the green craft foam into footballish shapes.

4. Use scissors to give your leaves more shape by trimming them into an hour glass type shape.

5. Use a toothpick to poke a hole in the center of each leaf.

6. Poke a chenille stem into the hole in the center of the leaf. 

7. When egg cups are dry, use toothpick to poke a hole in the bottom of each egg cup.

8.  Insert the top of the chenille stem into the hole in the egg cup.

9. Insert the top of the chenille stem into the center of the two tissue paper squares. Run the egg cup up to the tissue paper. The tissue paper will tuck inside the egg cup. Bend the end of the chenille into the tissue paper to hold everything in place.

Jacob and Alyssa did everything themselves, except the cutting. Let me tell you, I didn't even want to do the cutting of the leaves. I almost waited until Leighton came home to do it. Yes, I admit it. Freehand cutting is not my thing. I cut. I re-cut. I shaped. It was a long process. By the sixth set of leaves though, I cut, cut, cut, cut and voilà! Leaves!

The kids liked painted with the foam brushes. They helped fill in the texture of the carton. Jacob, of course, painted all 3 of his flowers red. Everything always red. He also painted the insides of them, even though I  tried to convince him that they wouldn't be visible. It made for some messy fingers. Thankful for washable paint! We used the top of the egg carton to hold the paint. Such an economical craft!

Jacob insisted that we sprayed the flowers so they were more realistic and smelly. Zachy especially liked sniffing them. 

See? All this rain has been good for something!