Eggs are incredible. We go through a lot of eggs each week in our house. So of course we also go through a lot of egg cartons in our house as well. Luckily egg cartons are pretty incredible too.
So what to do with some of this egg carton stockpile? Well, in honor of Easter and Earth Day we decided to tackle some egg carton crafting. With a little cutting and hole poking we turned some plain old pieces of an egg carton into a colorful octopus family. A pretty incredible octopus family if I do say so myself. Recycling can be so adorable sometimes.
Supplies needed to make an egg carton octopus:
- 1 egg carton cut apart so the cups are in individual pieces, you’ll need one cup per octopus
- paint
- googly eyes
- glue
- string
- 4 pipe cleaners per octopus, cut in half
How to Make an Egg Carton Octopus:
The octopuses body is made of an upside down egg carton cup. The Flat or rounded portion that normally acts as the bottom of the egg carton will be turned over and will instead be the top of the octopuses head.
Step 1: Poke four holes around the bottom of the egg carton cup. Poke one hole into the top, flat part, of the cup. I used a bar-b-que skewer but scissors or another pointy object would work as well.
Step 2: Paint the egg carton cup in your favorite octopus colors. Or just your favorite colors in general. Set aside to let the paint dry.
Step 3: Thread one length of pipe cleaner until it is about halfway through one of the four holes along the bottom edge of the egg cup. Fold the pipe cleaner in half so that it looks like 2 legs hanging from the octopuses body. Repeat with the remaining 3 holes along the bottom edge of the octopuses body. When you finish this step the octopus should look like it has 8 legs.
Step 4: Pick which side of the egg cup will be the face of your octopus. Glue the googly eyes towards the top on the side you’ve chosen for the face and draw a mouth.
Step 5: Thread string trough the hole on the top of the octopuses head and tie a few knots in the string in the underside of the egg cup. The String will enable kiddos to float their octopus through the air like it’s swimming in the ocean or hang the octopus up.
Are octopuses generally orange and green with mutli-colored legs? Well in the land of creativity and free choice over paint and pipe cleaner colors they are. I love Maddy’s camouflaged octopuses. I also love that one of her little guys is looking a little down in the dumps. Octopuses have feelings too.
This activity gave us a great chance to talk about octopuses, their eight legs and where they live. It also granted us much fun running around the living room pretending to swim in the ocean with octopuses and other sea creatures. What’s better than some learning mixed with laughter and pretend play and paint?
