Bunny and Chick Easter egg holders

These make great table decorations for a Easter day spread. You could even write the children's (and adults..) names on them, before filling with treats like mini eggs.

You will need:
Toilet paper tube (or two)
Scissors
Pencil
Ruler
Paint
Glue
Glue stick
Black pen (gel or felt-tip)
Green paper (optional)
Coloured tissue paper
Feathers (optional)

1. Flatten the cardboard tube with your hand - press down along the sides, so you can see the creases.

2. Squeeze the tube back into shape, then line up the two creases you've just made, in the middle, and flatten again, pressing down on the sides.

3. While the tube is flat, use a ruler and pencil to draw a line across the tube, about 2cm from the bottom.

4. Use the scissors to cut down the (longer) two side creases to the pencil line.

5. Squeeze the tube back into shape, then line up the cuts you've just made in the middle, and press the tube flat again.

6. With a pencil, draw half an 'n' shape on the fold, so it goes about halfway up the tube. Leave a space between the pencil shape and the side cuts.

7. Cut around the shape to the pencil line (*mini makers might need help cutting through the double card). Snip through the crease at the top, above the shape (see pic below), so you can bend each side piece down, and fold on the line. Now they're easier to snip off.

When you squeeze the tube back into shape you will have the body for your chick or bunny.

8. For the head, draw around something like a coin or a bottle top on spare card and cut out (if there isn't enough card left, cut open another toilet paper tube and use that.)

9. (Bunny only) Fold some spare card and draw a rabbit ear on top. Cut through the double card * to get two identical ears. For an easier option, use paper instead.

10. Now you have all your pieces, it's painting time. Paint behind the body first - use a nice, bright colour. Then paint the body and the other pieces. Paint a small piece of spare card (or paper) orange, for the chick's beak.

You could paint the foreground, below your chick or bunny green, or make paper grass (in step 12) 

We also cut long zig-zags into the back of the tube, to make it look like the rabbit's hiding in some grass.

11. Use a black pen to draw on the faces. For the chick, cut out a small triangle from the piece of painted orange card (or use paper), and use a small amount of glue to stick it under the eyes. Glue the bunny ears behind the head.

12. If you would like to make some grass for the front of your egg holder, cut out a strip of green paper (or colour in some plain paper). It needs to wrap round half your tube and be about a cm or so higher that the pencil line at the front.

14. Cut zig-zags along the strip - keep them short and make them uneven.

15. Glue the grass below your chick or bunny, lining it up with the bottom of the tube - a glue stick is good for this, just rub a layer of glue on the back of the grass.

16. For the flowers, scrunch up small squares of coloured tissue paper, dot some glue on the grass, where you want them to go, and stick in place.

17. Glue the chick's head on and if you have two feathers, glue them either side. If you don't have feathers, you could cut some wings out of paper and colour in.

For the bunny, glue the head onto the body.

You could use a paper clip to keep things in place while the glue dries, or prop them on their sides.

And why not customise your egg holder with some blingy sequins before adding Easter treats.

(They're a perfect size for a creme egg.. )

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Cork crafts with a twist for Easter

I'm not sure where this idea came from... but hey, why not a chick on an Easter bonnet or a cat on a hat?? Probably has something to do with the amount of time I've spent looking at corks! I wanted to come up with a quick project that involved simple painting and was possibly a bit quirky? The bottom part of the cork below the rounded top just made me think HAT.

You'll need:
Cork (from something fizzy)
Paint
Coloured paper
Craft glue
Glue stick
Pencil
Spice jar to draw around
3 feathers (for the chick)
Small stickers/sequins (optional)
Spare card (for the cat)
Black felt-tip or gel pen


1. First, paint the rounded top part of the cork yellow for the chick, then decide what colour hat you want, and paint the bottom part. You could paint it the same colour as the paper for the hat rim (like we did) or make it completely different.

2. For the rim of the hat, find a circle shape that's bigger than the bottom of the cork (we used a small spice jar), draw around it with a pencil and cut out. Cut a thin strip of paper for a hat band.

3. Put a thin layer of glue on the hat band strip (a glue stick is best for this) and wrap it around the bottom of the cork - don't worry if it doesn't go all the way around (like ours) - the gap can be covered by the rim of the hat. Glue the bottom of the cork to the paper circle - place it a little off centre, and then glue the wider part of the rim to the side of the cork to make a turn up. If you need to, lean a book on the hat turn up while it dries.

4. To decorate, we made little paper flowers, but if you have some pretty small stickers or shiny sequins these would be an easier option and would look so lovely too.

(To make the paper flowers, cut a very small square of paper, fold it in half then half again. It helps if you draw a petal shape on top, starting from the corner that's the middle of the square (centre of your flower). Do a few practice ones - sometimes they can end up looking more like butterflies, which is good too! Cut out a circle for the middle, or use a hole punch to make circles, or paint the centre)

5. Use a black felt tip or gel pen to draw eyes on your chick, near the top, and straight above the hat turn-up.

6. Cut a small orange triangle for the beak (if you don't have orange paper, colour in some plain paper or draw a beak straight onto your chick with an orange felt-tip). Dab the tiniest bit of glue just below the eyes (or use a glue stick), wet your finger to pick up the tiny beak and stick it in place.

7. Glue feathers either side, for the wings.

- and, if you want, add a head plume. Make a hole on top, near the front, just above the eyes, using a small screw (screw it in until the hole is deep enough) - put some glue on the bottom of the feather and push it into the hole.

8. For the Cat, follow the instructions above to Step 4, making sure you also paint a small piece of spare card (or paper) the same colour as your cat's body (for the tail and ears).


9. When the paint's dry, draw and cut out a tail and a small square (that will be the ears) - make sure it's no wider than the top of the cork.

10. Fold the small square in half and on one side of the fold line, draw pointy ears. Carefully cut around them, bending the piece between the ears back so it's easier to snip off.

11. Glue the bottom part of the folded ear piece to the top of the cork, straight above the hat turn-up.

12. Use a black felt-tip or gel pen to add the face detail and then paint a lighter shade on the cat's tummy.

Now's the time to paint on pen on more detail if you like. We added some stripes (don't forget to paint them on the tail too!), but leave your cat plain if you prefer.

13. Glue the tail in place so it wraps around the front.

Let me know if you have any other thoughts about what to put on the hat!!