17.10.19

Egg carton Mice

egg carton mice kids crafts easy crafts


WHO ate all the CHEESE??!

These little egg carton mice are having a lovely time, and when the kids have finished playing with them, they can be packed away inside the big cheese for next time.

You will need:
2 Egg cartons
Pencil
Scissors
Plain paper
Paint
Glue/glue stick
Black marker or gel pen
Yarn (for tail)

1. First, roughly cut out the middle cones from the carton, so they're easier to work with.




2. Use a pencil to lightly draw a line around the bottom of the cone, just above the bumpy cardboard join (for guidance, so doesn't matter if the line is a bit wobbly!) 
Cut up to the line at an angle, and then along it, so the edge is even and the cone sits flat.  Trim if you need to. Make some smaller mice bodies too.

3. Next, you want to make them sit forward a little. So, draw a pencil cline straight across one side, about 1cm up from the bottom.


4. Then draw a diagonal line from each end of the pencil line, down the sides to the corner. 


Cut along the pencil line. You will end up with a more mouselike body.




5. For the ears, simply use a paper heart! Fold a piece of plain paper over, and draw half a heart on the fold (keep in mind the size of your mouse, so you don't make the ears too big).


6. Cut the heart out, snipping the middle a little lower than you would normally, open up and glue on the back of the head near the top (the longest side of the cone)






7. You could paint the body and ears separately before sticking together, but we went for an all over body paint - just need to make sure not to overload the brush with paint, or the ears will get too soggy.


8. Once dry, paint on some pink..

... then use a black pen to draw eyes, a nose and whiskers. Try to draw the eyes up close to the base of the ears, on the flattish top part of the cone, and the nose and whiskers right underneath the eyes.



9. For the tail, snip a slot at the back of your mouse, cut a few cms of yarn and slot into place.




10. For the big cheese, remove the middle cones from inside the second carton by squeezing and cutting straight across each one. Snip them off as near to the base as you can - so there'll be more room inside for your mice!

Make holes in the carton lid with small sharp scissors, like nail scissors (keep closed, press down and twist from side to side) This needs to be done by an adult. Cut different sized holes, then let little ones loose with the yellow paint!

11. We folded a piece of kitchen paper inside our cheese, so they didn't fall through the holes.
And they've got something nice and soft to sleep on too... of course..