Mr Croc - egg carton crocodile

This craft is very similar to the lizard we made last time, so it's all about cutting and stacking, the tricky part is finding enough egg cartons!!

You will need:

3 x Large (dozen) egg cartons or

6 Regular (half a dozen) egg cartons

Pencil

Scissors

Craft glue

Glue stick (optional)

Green paint

Sheet of plain paper

Black felt-tip or gel pen

1. Mr Croc is made from twelve of the middle cones you find in egg cartons.

If you can get hold a few of the larger cartons, you'll get 5 cones per box, rather than the usual two. 

Of course you could always make a smaller crocodile with less, and spread the cones out more, or add in extra cones (if you have them) for a really long tail!

1. We painted our cones first, while they were still in the egg cartons, but you could assemble your croc and paint him at the end if you prefer. 

If you're painting at the start, remember to paint some of the egg box lid green too, for the feet.

2. Cut the cones out roughly, in a strip, then separate them by snipping a part. We cut out 12 altogether. 

LEAVE ONE OF THESE ROUGHLY CUT OUT CONES TO THE SIDE FOR LATER (FOR THE HEAD).

3. Then cut around the bottom of the 11 remaining cones, just above the cardboard joins - so the sides are smooth, the edges are even and the cone sits straight on a flat surface. (I've used a pencil to mark above the card join on this cone, to show where to cut).

4. Aim to make them look the same size (but don't worry if they're not exactly alike! And you can always tidy them up if you feel you need to, at the stacking stage)

Put one of these trimmed cones aside too (for the end of the tail) so you're now left with 10. 

Then chop about 1cm off the top of 10 remaining cones, by squeezing the cone flat between your fingers and snipping across the top. The cut will look a bit wonky when you squeeze the cone back into shape, but that's fine as you won't see this bit when you put your Croc together.

5. Now the fun part, the stacking! We stacked 5 cones together for the body.

Brush glue around the inside edges of the first cone, then push the next one in, but don't push it in too far, you want to have gaps between the ridges (and this stretches out the body too). Brush glue around the inside edge of the second cone and add the third, and so on. Keep the gaps looking even (keep trying different cones to get a good fit).

6. The next cone is going to go in the opposite way round (so you can attach the tail), but it's too big as it is, so you need to shorten it by cutting about 1cm off the bottom edge, (see photo above), then glue inside the end of your stacked cones.

7. Cut about 1cm off the bottom of the remaining 4 cones too. This will make the tail look less bulky.

(You should still have 2 cones left aside, for the head and bottom of the tail)

8. Glue these four pieces to the body, but make the gaps wider apart than those on the body - this will allow you to extend the tail and to curve it slightly, if you want to. Brush glue inside the pieces you're adding to the tail, concentrating on where the cones are most in contact with each other.

9. For the end of the tail, take the trimmed cone (from step 4) that you've been saving, and cut it in half lengthways, so the end has more of a point, before gluing one half in place.

10. For the head, take the last remaining cone you cut out roughly at the very beginning, and hold it so you're looking at one of the flat sides. This will be the top of your croc's head. 

On the top of the head, close to the edge of the cone, use a pencil to draw two semi-circles for the eyes, starting from each corner. Join with a line. (See the photo) Roughly draw around the rest of the cone, from the bottom of one eye to the bottom of the other. 

When cutting out, it might help to cut down each corner first, to the pencil line, fold all but the front flap out, and cut these three side and back flaps off.

On the front, cut between Mr Croc's eyes first, to the line, before snipping this little piece away (or tucking it inside the head). Then round off the eyes.

11. Paint them yellow.

12. While they're drying, draw a thin strip on some plain paper (for the teeth) - about 15cm long and roughly 0.5mm wide.

With a fine black pen, draw a zigzag line from the top to the bottom line, before cutting this strip out.

Use the pen to finish off the eyes and to add nostrils. We drew long, thin triangles for the pupils.

13. Snip one end into a tapered 'V', rub with glue stick, or brush on a thin layer of glue, and stick the start of the teeth in place. Wrap around his face, until it looks even with the other side. Cut away the extra and snip the other side of his mouth into a 'V' shape too.

Glue the head to the body.

14. For the feet, cut a 2-3cm strip and round it at one end. Use this as a template to draw around, and cut out four. Draw on claws and glue them at angles, under the body.

Egg carton lizard

This craft is all about cutting and stacking, the only tricky part is you do need a lot of egg cartons!!

You will need:

3 x Large (dozen) egg cartons or

6/7 Regular (half a dozen) egg cartons

Pencil

Scissors

Craft glue

Paint (optional)

Toilet paper tube

Paper punch (optional)

1. Our Lizard is made from fourteen of the middle cones you find in egg cartons.

If you can get hold a few of the larger cartons, you'll get 5 cones per box, rather than the usual two. 

Of course you could always make one with less, and spread the cones out more, or add in extra cones (if you have them) for a really long tail!

You can either paint your lizard at the end, or leave it as it is. 

If you want to leave it, then think about using different coloured egg cartons. 

For our non-painted lizard we used mostly green, with a few white cones for contrast, but create your own pattern if you want to.

2. Cut the cones out roughly, in a strip, then separate them by snipping a part. We cut out 14 altogether. 

LEAVE ONE OF THESE ROUGHLY CUT OUT CONES TO THE SIDE FOR LATER (FOR THE HEAD).

3. Then cut around the bottom of the 13 remaining cones, just above the cardboard joins - so the sides are smooth, the edges are even and the cone sits straight on a flat surface. (I've used a pencil to mark above the card join on this cone, to show where to cut).

4. Aim to make them look the same size (but don't worry if they're not exactly alike! And you can always tidy them up if you feel you need to, at the stacking stage)

Put one of these trimmed cones aside too (for the end of the tail) so you're now left with 12. 

Then chop about 1cm off the top of 12 remaining cones, by squeezing the cone flat between your fingers and snipping across the top. The cut will look a bit wonky when you squeeze the cone back into shape, but that's fine as you won't see this end when you put your lizard together.

5. Now the fun part, the stacking! We stacked 6 cones together for the body and alternated between green and white.

Brush glue around the inside edges of the first cone, then push the next one in, but don't push it in too far, you want to have gaps between the ridges (and this stretches out the body too). Brush glue around the inside edge of the second cone and add the third, and so on. Keep the gaps looking even (and you could try different cones to get a good fit).

6. The next cone is going to go in the opposite way round (so you can attach the tail), but it's too big as it is, so you need to shorten it by cutting about 1cm off the bottom edge, then glue inside the end of your stacked cones.

7. To make the tail less bulky than the body, cut about 1cm off the bottom of the remaining 5 cones.

(You should still have 2 cones left aside, for the head and bottom of the tail)

8. Glue these five pieces to the body, but make the gaps wider apart than those on the body - this will allow you to extend the tail and to curve it slightly as you do. Brush glue inside the pieces you're adding to the body, mainly on the bottom and the inside of the curve, where the cones are more in contact with each other.

9. For the end of the tail, take the trimmed cone (from step 4) you've been saving, and cut it in half lengthways, before gluing in place.

10. For the feet, cut a 3-4cm strip that widens at one end. Use this as a template to draw around, and cut out four. Either leave like this, or snip out little pieces to define the feet. Put them to one side while you make the head.

11. For the head, take the last remaining cone you cut out roughly at the very beginning, and hold it so you're looking at one of the flat sides. This will be the top of your lizard's head. 

Cut away any stray card at the top and snip out the two cardboard joins either side, so you end up with small triangles either side of the top of the head. (See the pencil lines on the picture below)

12. Then cut away the sides and the bottom of the cone, leaving the top - so they're a little shorter than the top of your lizard's head.

13. Now, shorten the pointy end of the cone by about 1cm, by squeezing the cone flat between your fingers like before, and cutting across. This time though you will need to straighten up the wonky cut by snipping the edges carefully.

14. Next, cut the sides of the mouth by snipping out a long triangle from the corners to over halfway along the head, on both sides.

Check the head looks right on the body - if it's looking a bit big, shorten the head at the back.

15. For the eyes, cut a thin piece of egg carton card and snip into two roughly 3cm lengths. It's good to use a contrasting colour to the head if you can, especially if you aren't going to be painting the lizard.

Brush glue along the length of the thin strips and roll tight. Squeeze and hold so each swirl sticks together. If this is too fiddly, use a hole punch to punch out circles and maybe stick a few on top of each other. Or just draw on eyes with a pen.

Glue the head to the body - with a good layer of glue inside the bottom edge of the head where there's more contact between the head and body.

Glue the eyes on the ridges on top of the head.

Glue the feet under the body at an angle, so they face forward.

16. For the tongue, paint the end of a toilet paper tube (or kitchen paper tube) your choice of colour - make sure you paint the inside too - and when it's dry, squeeze the tube flat and cut off the top cm or so. Snip this ring open, and cut a long 'V' shape at one end.

17. Glue the other end inside the lizard's mouth.

And he's off! Exploring the garden...

...with his exotic, fiery cousin..