In my house, some of the most popular crafts I ever do with my kids are also the cheapest and simplest. For some reason, they really get a kick out of it when we take things out of the recycling bin that would otherwise be thrown away and turn parts of those things into awesome little crafts and characters! We were on a big tin can crafts kick for a while there, for example, and recently my youngest came to us holing an emptied egg carton we’d just put in the bin and asked me if I’d help them turn it into something fun. That’s how these adorable little egg carton bees were born!
As I usually try to do, I made one extra so I could show other crafters who might be looking for cute upcycling ideas how it’s done. Check out these step by step instructions complete with photos! If you’d rather follow along with a video tutorial instead of written words, scroll to the bottom of this post to find just what you’re looking for.
For this project, you’ll need:
- An empty egg carton
- Two googly eyes
- Yellow paint
- A paintbrush
- Scissors
- A glue stick
- A black marker
Step 1:
Gather your materials!
Step 2:
Use your scissors to cut one cup from the bottom of the egg carton, trimming the edges and shape until it’s nice and neat. You’ll work with the egg cup flipped upside down.
Step 3:
Use your paintbrush to paint your egg cup entirely yellow on its outside surface. Set it aside to dry.
Step 4:
Use your black marker to draw the shapes of two wings on your blue paper. I made mine about an inch long and half an inch wide each, and shaped almost like upside down teardrops but with a blunt end on the tapered end instead of a pointed one. Cut your wings out.
Step 5:
Add details and a face to your bee! Choose which side surface you want to use as the front. Apply glue to the backs of your googly eyes and stick them to that side, near the top. Then use your black marker to give your bee a little smiling mouth. Finally, use the marker to draw black lines horizontally across the bee; start at the edge on one side, draw up the side and across its top or back, and then finish drawing down the other side to the other edge. I gave my bee three strips a few centimetres apart from each other.
Step 6:
Finish your bee off by applying glue to the blunt ends of your bee’s wings and sticking them on the top, angled back and diagonally so they stick out the same way an actual bumblebee’s wings are angled.
That’s really all there is to it! Feel free to use this basic concept as a template for creating other animals by embellishing the egg cup differently. Just in case you’d like to try this project out for yourself, here’s a fantastic tutorial video to help you!
The post appeared first on .
