You'll need:
toilet paper tube
cereal box card (approx 16cmx16cm)
egg carton
yellow/orange tissue paper
poster paint
PVA/craft glue
fine black felt tip
small scissors (like straight-edged nail scissors)
1. Paint the tube brown (mix a little red and some yellow to make orange, then add dabs of blue until you're happy with the shade).
Paint the cereal box card green; an egg carton cup yellow for the nest (cut out another cup the same size, but no need to paint it - it's for drawing around later),
and two egg box cones pale blue for the birds (mix white and a small amount of blue - or choose a different colour).
2. Make a hole in the trunk about a third of the way down (best done by an adult). Draw it first then use the nail scissors to pierce through the card (keep them closed, press down and twist from side to side). Cut out.
3. With the hole in the middle, facing you - gently squeeze the tube top together to make two creases opposite each other.
4. Cut down each crease about 2cm, and widen the cut a little by snipping out an extra sliver. This will make it easier to slot in your tree top.
5. With a pencil, draw a triangle shape from the top of a slot, to just above the middle of the hole and then up to the slot on the other side. Cut out.
6. Draw your tree top - make it generous - but keep the bottom part that's going to slot into the trunk, straightish (as long as the width of the tube).
7. Cut the tree top out and slot the straight section into the trunk. When you're happy it looks even, mark where the slots are on the tree top piece. Lift it out and snip small slots (about 1cm). Again, you can widen them a little if you need to. Check the trunk and top fit together.
8. For a more simple (and quick!) nest, cut the yellow egg carton cup in half and glue onto your tree top. Leave to dry.
OR
Unslot the tree top from the trunk, cut the spare unpainted egg cup in half and draw around it, where you'd like the nest to be.
9. Use the nail scissors again to pierce a hole in the pencil line - start at one of the bottom corners (best done by an adult). Cut up, along the top, and then down. DON'T cut along the bottom. Instead, push and fold the flap out the back of your tree top. This makes a perfect little shelf for your nest.
Check your yellow nest fits, (trim and widen the hole if you need to).
10. Loosely fold the sheets of tissue paper a few times, then snip across, keeping the strips thin, and unfurl them. Scrumple scrunch and tear them up a bit.
Cover the inside of your yellow egg cup with a generous layer of glue, and press the streamers into it. Do the same on the outside. Quite messy but a lot of fun! Push extra strands over the lip of the nest and glue or cut away any other bits that are hanging down, though doesn't need to be too neat.
11. While that's drying, make the birds. We made a baby bird and a slightly bigger one, but make them any size you want. We cut the cones so they were about 3cm and 2cm high. Draw a rough pencil line around the cone, about 1cm up from the bottom, and snip up all four corners to the line. Bend and fold out all of the card flaps around the cone and cut three of them off, cutting along the crease. Leave one side for the tail feathers at the back. Shorten or shape it if you want to.
12. Use the fine black felt tip or gel pen to draw wings, eyes and a 'V' on the tail feathers at the back.
13. If you want to colour in the wings, do - we left some of ours unpainted, and on the others, painted the wings and tail feathers blue (you could use coloured felt tips for this).
For the beak, use a fine paint brush to add a small dot of yellow under the eyes (or cut out and glue on a little yellow triangle)
14. While the beaks are drying, you can decide what to put in the nest! We used mini eggs, though I saw some really mini, mini eggs in B&M that would have been even better.
You can glue the nest to the flap in the tree if you want, but it should sit fine without gluing, and my daughter wanted to be able to play with the nest.
15. Make small slots in the sides of some of the birds with the nail scissors, so they can sit in the tree. Snip a little extra out, to widen the slots.
14. And there's room.....
..... for another little surprise!
Any excuse for a creme egg!
Fits perfectly in the tube.
