Once the snow has melted once and for all, we know that spring is right around the corner. Use these egg carton flowers as an art activity or as an easy spring craft. Students can make their flowers as unique as they would like!
What you need:
- thick surface material (canvas, cardboard, cardstock)
- egg carton
- scissors
- coloured paint
- paint brush
- buttons
- green pipe cleaners
- glue
Step 1: Prepare the base
Start by preparing the base of the egg carton flowers by painting it a colour of the student’s choice. A technique that can be used here is mixing their chosen colour with streaks of white to add highlights in the sense of clouds. Alternatively, students can add streaks of purple or orange to add shades in the sense of a sunset.
Step 2: Start the egg carton flowers
While the base is drying, it’s time to prepare the flowers. For this step, each flower is made from a single egg cup. Students can do this step or they can be prepared beforehand depending on their abilities. Egg carton cups are cut one by one, making a total of 6 per artwork.
Once the cups have been cut, make incisions along the sides of the cup for the petals. Next, bend the petals outwards by rolling along a pencil.
Step 3: Paint the petals
It’s finally time to paint the petals! Students can choose to paint with two colours to add dimension and more of a realistic impression. Start by painting the base of each flower one solid colour, this may take more than 1 coat to cover the carton. Then add a second complimentary colour (refer to our colour wheel here) adding subtle streaks on each petal.
Step 4: Assemble the bouquet
As soon as everything is dry, students can arrange the flowers on their base and glue them down once they’re happy with the placement. Using the green pipe cleaners, add the stems to each egg carton flower. If the stems are too long, simply cut the ends and twist the short pieces into leaves.
Finally, glue the stems to the base.
Step 5: Finishing touches
Lastly, we add the buttons as a finishing touch. Glue one button at the center of each flower. Et voilà, we’re done! These egg carton flowers are ready to display in the school hallways or to be gifted to someone special.
Happy spring!
