Egg Carton Critters by Belinda

Materials:

Cardboard egg carton

Tempera paints and paintbrushes

Gluegoogly eyes

Hole punch

pipe cleaners of assorted colors and thicknesses

craft glue

Critter #1

Cut the twelve cups out of the egg carton bottom and trim them. Paint the outside green or another bug color and let them dry. Glue on the eyes and punch a hole for the mouth, positioning the hole at the edge. Add three leg holes on each side with the whole punch. Cut all the pipe cleaners into 4 inch sections for the legs and antennae. Poke two holes above the eyes for the antennae (you will need to use a pushpin or pencil or snip with scissors). For the legs, insert one pipe cleaner piece through one side hole and out the other side. Bend it up inside the shell and into shape for the legs and feet. To make the antennae, push the pipe cleaner through one hole and out the other, bending it into shape. Now, let the critters crawl.

A Bug House

To house a colony of egg carton critters, open an egg carton

and press the five center dividers down flat to make room for the bugs. Make grass out of paper, and glue it onto the carton, bending the blades upright. The house is now ready for your litter of critters.

Caterpillars

Cut our one whole side or at least 4 sections in a strip. Paint caterpillar designs on the body. Glue eyes on the head and insert pipe cleaners for antennaes into the head.

Insert pipe cleaner legs into the sides.

Some ideas from Kidsactivities.