Paper Mache Easter Eggs -
A great craft of kids! An easy to make craft that even the younger children can get excited about! You can make them egg size of If you make it extra big you can use it as a pinata!This egg is hollow inside. You could put all sorts of goodies in and give it as a gift to a friend. A versatile and fun arts and crafts project!
CRAFTS MATERIALS YOUR KIDS NEED TO MAKE THIS CHILDRENS' ARTS AND CRAFTS ACTIVITY:
balloon
newspaper
ONE OF: white glue, mod podge OR paper mache paste (1 part flour to 4 parts water... boil about 3 minutes stirring constantly, add 2 ice cubes and let cool) -- See our "How to Mache" section
scissors
poster or tempra paint
paintbrush
glitter or sparkle glue
Prepare your paper mache paste right away so it has time to cool (if using the boil method). I like boiled paste as it's smoother and takes a lot less flour (the REDUCE part of the three R's!).
Blow up a balloon. You should use one that's blown up all the way to get a good egg shape, but we always end up playing with ours until they're somewhat deflated which makes the egg a bit rounder than it likely should be.
Tear strips of newspaper about 1 " wide and as long as you want.
Dip in the paper mache paste, but then remove excess paste (I run it through my fingers to do this)
Cover the balloon in no more than 4 layers of paper mache (I always tell the kids no more than 2 as they always put on too much *grin*). If you put on more than 4 it will likely mold before it dries.
If you want to fill your egg with something, leave a space where the tied end is.
Scrunch newspaper up and line a bowl with it. Set the egg in that to dry.
Let dry COMPLETELY. It goes faster in a warm breezy place. If it's a nice day, just stick it outside (just don't forget it if it starts to rain). It takes a day or so to dry.
Put whatever goodies you want into your egg. Put them in a plastic baggie first so that they don't get any paper mache goop on them.
Apply a second layer of mache. This time covering the opening. The more layers you add, the sturdier it will be. We applied a second layer, but we only did two layers, not 4 this time.
OPTIONAL: we always use scrap white computer paper or toilet paper (don't laugh) for the final layer of all of our paper mache projects.
It takes less paint to cover.
I find newspaper needs two coats of paint, whereas the white paper only needs one.
Toilet paper gives a rough texture which is nice for some animals.
We used computer paper for our egg.
Paint the whole thing a base color (we used pink and mixed the red and white together ourselves) Kaitlyn LOVES mixing her own paint.
Use paint or markers to add easter egg decorations like stripes, dots or flowers. We used a carrot cut in half to stamp on our purple dots and then circled them with sparkle glue.
Let dry.
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