We have an 18 month old egg-loving-toddler in the house.
His love for eggs is nothing new, whether hard boiled eggs, scrambled, or with cheese (of course his favorite way) he cannot get enough! Large amounts of eggs led to large amounts of egg cartons that I decided to set aside and save for a rainy quarantine day.
Quarantine has led to lots of crafts, and with earth day being last week I decided to have Quinn’s daily crafts inspired by using recycled materials which we have so much of!
This egg carton wreath is a super easy craft with minimal set up and clean up. I’ve found our 18 month old to LOVE exploring painting on different materials and shapes adding variety to just painting on paper.
Step 1: While toddler sleeps, cut up the egg cartons
I queued up some Netflix, laid out the egg cartons, grabbed some kitchen scissors and got to work. I started by cutting out all the egg cups and then shaping them into different “flowers” in varying shapes and sizes to add variety to the wreath. Once all the flowers were cut out I cut some smaller strips from the egg carton lids to roll up to use as some flower centers.
After cutting out all the flower parts I used the carton lids to cut various shapes of leaves.
Step 2: Paint, Paint, Paint
With some time left before Q typically wakes up I got started on painting the flowers with acrylic paints. I chose to stick with reds, pinks, and oranges because it is spring after all! I mixed some kid friends green tempera paint in various shades to have ready for Q when he woke up.
Q woke up and after some reading – he loves to read when he wakes up – we got to work on the painting together. While he painted the leaves and cardboard wreath backing green, I sat next to him and painted the flowers. We used this time to talk about colors, his favorite being green, and talk about recycling. Being an 18 month old when he was done painting, he signed “all done” and I knew he’d be ready for his favorite activity, play doh!
Step 3: Assemble
I decided to tackle this last step after Q went to sleep for the night. After a jam packed afternoon of painting, play doh, walking, reading, eating, he crashed pretty quickly for the night.
For this step I used a hot glue gun – i haven’t used one in SO long and forgot how fun they are to use- and set up the flowers I had painted and leaves Q had painted across the kitchen table.
Starting in one section I glued some leaves to the base to add some variety and flowers on top of those, ensuring to mix up the colors and styles as I went.
We had a great time making this and LOVE how it came out!
I love including Quinn in projects like this and Earth Day inspired our crafts for the rest of the week. Up next, a pine cone craft using pine cones we collected in the woods on a weekend picnic.
xX The Scott Cottage
I think this is fabulous. And I think you’re an amazing mom, a kind and generous friend and an inspiring woman!!! Love love love!