Egg Carton Ants Art Craft

How to Make Egg Carton Ants Craft

We love to make something from nothing! Perhaps, one of the first recycled craft projects (just behind the milk carton house) was the egg carton ants art craft. These cute little ants are fun for preschoolers to make, but they also work fine motor skills. So, what are you waiting for? Grab your egg cartons and get ready to make some ants. We've added a few more ant art ideas, so keep scrolling and Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.*

Make a Call of Duty Black Ops Medal Afterschool Activity

 Make your own Black Ops Call of Duty Style Medal

Call of Duty Black Ops and Ghosts are so popular with teens and their gaming Dads too. We've been posting  a ton of Call of Duty birthday party activity themes or after-school boredom busters. Enjoy!

I know, how can you get bored when you have your video games to play?

Well, sometimes you mess up and lose your tech time. Grounded. Don't leave your soldiers all alone. Remember when you used to get dressed up and play make believe? Yep. Now they call it role-playing, and it is cool to be a nerd.

Get your own Official Black Ops Medal

This post contains affiliate links.

We made our look-alike (shh, I know it's a stretch, don't hurt my feelings!) medal with recycled cardboard from a cereal box, blue felt, aluminum foil, some Sharpies, and Tacky Glue.

Official Call of Duty Black Ops Prestige Medal.

How to Make a Call of Duty Medal

We took the image above, printed it out in black and white and then traced it to make a template. It's not an exact match, but it makes a fun Call of Duty activity for kids.

After, we cut out our images, we traced them onto the cardboard. There are 5 separate cardboard pieces making up the medal.

Next, we covered each piece with foil by wrapping the cardboard cut out and rubbing over it with fingers to reveal where to make the cuts. No need to glue the foil down, just wrap the edges so they fold over the back.

Then, we stacked each piece as pictured and glued them down with tacky glue.

Take a break, let it dry. Later, we took the Sharpie and colored the bottom layer. We used brown, but gold looks best. Then, we drew the features of the skull.

Finally, we cut the felt in an odd bow tie, folded it in half, glued it at the top, and then to the wings at the top of our cardboard medal.

If you make a Call of Duty template pattern stencil (see what I did there? That's weird, right?), and cut the pieces out prior to the party, it makes a quick, fun activity for a boys' birthday party.

Need a stencil pattern template - whatever you want to call it, you can find it here as a FREE PRINTABLE CALL OF DUTY pdf on our Mediafire page. If the link isn't clickable, I haven't scanned it in yet. Hold on. I'm getting to it.



Recommended Reading:


Call of Duty: Ghosts Signature Series Strategy Guide 

Free Printable Coloring Pages inspired by Call of Duty

Call of Duty Art Lesson

Army Birthday Party with Call of Duty Theme

7 Unique Egg Carton Craft Ideas: Not just for Easter

These 7 Egg Carton Crafts aren't just for Easter!  

These Unique Craft Ideas with Egg Cartons make Great Pinterest pins and will keep the kids busy too.

Easter is coming and we expect you will have lots of extra egg cartons to recycle. We won't! We have ducks and chickens and we are always in need of new egg cartons. I decided to spare just one and make some fun preschool Easter crafts with egg cartons. I also took a tour around the Kid Blogger Network and Pinterest and found a few more things to do with egg cartons.  Enjoy!

• Red Ted Art is my favorite blog! Maggy is a creative genius. I highly recommend her post about How to Make Fairy Blossom Lights from Egg Cartons.

Egg Carton Fairy Lights from Red Ted Art blog.

These egg carton crafts can be made year round to help recycle all those pesky cartons. They just beg to be used up, just like the drink carriers at fast food restaurants.

• This one is perfect for anytime, but EXCELLENT for Halloween. Mayhem will adore this one. We made a bunny (see below), sure, he's cute, but we didn't think very far outside the box. You can find this little egg carton kitty over at Storknet.com.

Egg carton craft for Halloween.

• Are you looking for a truly unique, Easter art project for your classroom? This one from Unicorn Hat Party blog artsy enough for older elementary school kids and easy enough for preschoolers.

Egg Carton Art Project for Kids.

• How about an Egg Carton Pirate Ship craft? This one from Craft Project Ideas blog is fairly easy, little ones might need some help, but make two and you can have a race in the bathtub! If your bathtub isn't easy to navigate a baby pool or a wallpaper tub make a perfect ocean for your creation.

Egg Carton Pirate Ship Craft for Kids from Craft Project Ideas blog.

• Here at Kids Creative Chaos, we've got some of our own egg carton crafts or things to do with egg cartons too. How about making a mini-garden for your kitchen window?

Egg carton gardening with kids.

• We also made mini-masks, maybe you could try it on your cat like we did with our mini-chef hat? Perhaps, you could tape it to a popsicle stick or wooden craft stick and call it a puppet, or a little mask for your face?

Egg Carton Mask - just add a craft stick.

• Then we made cute bunnies from egg cartons. They aren't very original (though I thought they were when I started making them), but they are an easy, cute Easter craft to make with preschoolers.

Egg Carton Bunny Craft for Kids.

Egg Carton Bunny back, we used scraps, but you could add a cottonball tail.

Mayhem's egg carton "Rainbow" bunny. He lost an ear, poor thing.

Recommended Reading:

What Is Easter?

Make a Phineas Mask with an Egg Carton

Happy Easter, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff

Fun Things to Make at Home

How to Make a Bottle Bloom into a Flower: Recycled Projects

Use your old plastic bottles to create a fun flower project for kids:  Bottle Bloom

Things to do with a Plastic Bottle. This is a special guest post written by my very creative brother, Jamie. Watch how he makes a plastic bottle into a flower  in this fun, recyled activity project. We'll be unveiling many cute coloring sheets for kids and lots of fun projects little boys will love. Welcome Jamie in the comments below the post. Enjoy!

Wondering what to do with all those empty plastic bottles? 
Make them bloom into something new.

Looking for things to do with plastic bottles? Have you ever seen an old plastic water bottle bloom into a beautiful flower? Take your recycled items to a new level, and give them new life with our fun, recycled project ideas for kids. Use this as a companion project for a science lesson on naming the parts of a plant.

Supplies Needed to make your bottle bloom.

This is a fun way to turn those constantly piling up plastic bottles into a cute craft that anyone can make. All you need is a pair of scissors, a glue gun, and a straw. Well, of course, you will need a bottle.

Cut the bottom off of  the bottle.

How to make a flower from a plastic water bottle:

• Cut the bottom of the bottle off near the end.
• Carefully space and then cut out leaves from the remaining bottle.
• Use a cap full of glue to secure the straw in the bottle's cap. You need to use a lot of glue to anchor the finished flower. 
• Now, glue the bottom of the bottle to the top of the straw.
• Finish with your choice of paint. We chose water colors- not the best coverage but an interesting look. If you want your paint finish to last use an acrylic or even spray paint made for plastics.    

Cut the leaves from the bottle.

Be careful not to cut them all way off, leave the sides (leaves attached near the lid).

Attach the straw with lots of glue.

Glue bottom of the bottle to the other end of the straw.

Make an entire flower patch in minutes!

Make a whole flower patch in just minutes!


Recommended Reading:

Sand Art Bottles with Rice

The Everything Kids' Science Experiments Book*

The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling (Little Green Books)*










ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Meet Amazing Crafty Kid Bloggers and find Inspiring Easter and Egg Theme Crafts for Kids

Easter Theme Art Projects and Crafts for Kids

While searching the net for things to do with egg cartons and eggs for a kids Easter theme roundup, I came across the most amazing crafty blogger. I was astonished to see she only had 14 GFC followers. Say whaaat? Well, we'll fix that.

Egg Shell Chalk from Pink Stripey Socks.

So, rather than doing a round up, I decided to start a new series where I feature amazing bloggers who aren't getting the exposure and blog love they deserve. Pink Stripey Socks hasn't monetized yet. She hasn't got links for a Facebook page or Pinterest, but with some searching I tracked down her Pinterest Boards. She does have a "subscribe to posts" at the bottom of each one and you should. Her ideas are not only creative; they are inspired recycling! I wanted to pin each one.

Spring Flower Wreath made from Egg Cartons from Pink Stripey Socks.

So, who is the wo-man behind the blog? Leslie describes her crafting as crapty adventures. I love that! Like many of us, her secret dream is to be a children's book author. She hangs her magic glue stick in New Jersey. Leslie, 11 Pinterest Followers today... 1000 tomorrow. This is your calling :)

Here are some of the great ideas Pink Stripey Socks shares for things to do with eggs/cartons.

Eggshell doll craft from Pink Stripey Socks. Click image to see how to make blown eggs.

This blog will keep you busy for hours. Hop over and find something crapty to inspire your life. :)

Recommended Reading:

Egg Story for Kids

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Repurpose Anything into Handmade Magnetic Chalkboards even Pumpkins

Is that a chalkboard pumpkin? 

Why yes it is a chalkboard pumpkin, why do you ask?

That's Right, anything can make a chalkboard. It started with a kitchen wall for my pre-schoolers. I hadn't discovered magnetic paint yet. I bought a black can of chalkboard paint (green didn't go with my decor) and painted an entire wall. It made a fun, new place to teach spelling and math for our homeschoolers.  Enjoy!

Make a Plastic Pumpkin Painted with Chalkboard Paint.

That's our chalkboard on the wall behind Jake.

It's Kitschy ~ I signed into Etsy and saw someone selling horse statues they had painted with chalkboard paint. Well, a light went off in my head. I love to create 'stuff' from junk. I repurpose everything I can to help make the world a better place. :) 

How to make a magnetic chalkboard pumpkin 
for fun fall homeschool lessons.

Well, hello there, proud, magnetic pumpkin!

Start with a plastic pumpkin. You can find them at Michael's and JoAnn's. Sand the pumpkin lightly so the paint will take hold.  Then add 2-3 layers of magnetic paint. It is imperative that you let it dry 24 hours between coats. When magnets stick to it you're done.

Paint a chalkboard on your wall like this one behind Mayhem.



You can eve make your own magnets from re-purposed puzzle pieces painted with a silly character. I have so many advertiser's magnets (flat ones from doctor's offices). I cut them up and hot glue them to the backs of things. Here are some cool magnets from the NURTURE STORE.

Originally, I used a can of chalkboard paint and a brush. Then, I discovered chalkboard spray paint...  Awesome!  I had concerns that it would run, but it was excellent and left no messy brush strokes! Again, you must wait 24 hours between coats. Patience is a virtue for a reason. I used two coats allowing it to dry for 24 hours before prepping for chalk. To prep, color the entire item with chalk and let it set overnight. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

You Might Also Like:   Edible Scratch and Sniff Water Colors

Recommended Reading:

October Holidays Calendar

Pumpkin Soup *ad

The Runaway Pumpkin *ad

Top 10 Reasons to Hate Juice Packs, Recycle Plastic Bottles

Recycle Plastic Bottles for Lunch

Recycle Kid's Trash to Ease Mommy Woes. Hate Juice Packs? We're always looking for new ways to recycle plastic bottles. The juice pack mess really sparked this idea. How do you teach your kids to recycle? Enjoy!

How do you teach your kids to recycle? 

Ways to Recycle Plastic Bottles

Here are 10 reasons to hate juice packs:

1.  Straw wrappers. Everywhere.
2.  "Mommy, I can't get a straw in here!" (But they want to, try really hard, and squeeze juice everywhere.)
3.  Little dots of juice turned dirt magnets on the carpet. Everywhere.
4.  One box takes up a lot of fridge room and only lasts one day. Expensive, considering.
5.  Pouches in landfills. Everywhere.
6.  Half-full pouch tossed in trash because kids too lazy too squeeze out last drop.
7.  "I don't like Kiwi Strawberry." "I don't like lemonade." "Wah!" (Complaints)
8.  "Look, it's a volcano!" Everywhere.
9.  Added sugar.
10. Instant Balloon toys, need I say more?


Solution:
Recycle mini-soda bottles, fill with healthy drinks of your choice or even Kool-aid. Saves money, the environment, and Mommy headaches. 

Reuse Plastic Bottles: Kid's choose their favorite flavor and reseal for later.


Store recycled mini-plastic bottles in the bottom of fridge door for easy access: 
Allows for preschooler independence!

Of course, water bottles work too; maybe try it for lazy grown-ups or portion control.

Recommended Reading:

Uses for Plastic Bottles

Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids by Gail Gibbons* 

Recycle a Bottle into a Valentine Card Holder

ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products. *We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here.Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Scrappy Leprechaun Shamrock Stick Puppet Saint Patrick Day Craft Preschool Activity

Easy Leprechaun Stick Puppet

Grab a box of scrap paper, some knick-knacks, and pipecleaners, and create this Leprechaun stick puppet or use him as a magical bookmark for Saint Patrick Day. He's made of mostly recycled items. So, pull out the scrap box and Enjoy!

This silly leprechaun is all scrap. Just add a stick to make a fun puppet or go big and make a mask to hold over your face during a St. Patrick's Day Parade around the hallways of Preschool. After the parade, he serves double duty as a bookmark for your favorite leprechaun story.

Easy Leprechaun Stick Puppet.

Plan ahead by cutting the scraps into triangles, circles, half-moons, trapezoids, and shamrocks for a quick Shape Lesson for preschoolers.



Recommended:


More St. Patrick's Day Crafts

ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Reuse, Renew, Recycle: Valentine's Day Craft Cardboard Tube Candy Holder

Valentine's Day Craft Candy Holder Cardboard Tube Roll 

Teach kids to reuse, renew, and recycle with this fun Valentine craft. No money to make Valentine's Cards for your kid's classroom Valentine's Day exchange? Make a cute candy holder Valentine from things you have in the house like felt scraps and cardboard toilet paper tube roll. Enjoy!

Make this Valentine's Day Craft candy holder 

from things you have around the house.

TOILET PAPER TUBE, CUPCAKE PAPER, FELT, CONSTRUCTION PAPER, NEWSPAPER, WRAPPING PAPER, OR PICTURES FROM A MAGAZINE, GLUE, CARDBOARD SCRAP, CANDY

Repurpose take colorful pictures from magazines and cut out eyes, hands, etc. ipo googly eyes. 

1. Glue paper around tube and fold edges inside.
2. Trace bottom of tube and cut out a circle from cardboard scrap, slightly larger than pattern.
3. Cover this with pretty paper or felt.
4. Cut out two long strips of paper and glue inside the tube for legs.
5. Glue cardboard base to bottom of tube.
6. Cut out a long strip of paper/felt for arms and glue around middle of tube.
7. Cut out hearts for feet and hands or pictures from magazines.
8. Cut out eyes, nose, mouth - glue to tube.
9. Let dry.
10. Fill tube with candy or money.
11. Insert Cupcake Holder in top for hat/hair which does double duty as a lid. 
12. Sit on the Breakfast table for a Valentine's morning surprise or have the kid's make them after-school.


Recommended Reading:


Valentine's Day Disaster *

The Biggest Valentine Ever*

Heart Pretzels

Five Fab Kid-friendly Valentine's










ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)