Egg Carton Flowers

My two year old loves rainbows and flowers so Planting a Rainbow was a great book for us to read together. It a simple story about planting and growing flowers.  The vibrant illustrations of flowers in every color of the rainbow are our favorite part of the book.

We did a craft that I remember doing as a kid. All you need is an egg carton, some pipe cleaners, and some paint. First I cut apart the egg carton.

Then we painted them.  Drew chose to use his fingers and a couple different colors.

Lainey chose red (what else?) and a paint brush.

Then changed her mind and just went ahead and used her hands.

My husband was home (he's usually not there when we do our projects and that's the way I like it.  He worries too much about making a mess.)  I forced invited him to participate.  I think it's good for the kids to see him doing things like this.  When we were finished Drew said, "I love making flowers with you, Dad."

We painted the egg cartons inside and out and when they dried I poked a small hole in the bottom and threaded a pipe cleaner through the bottom.  I bent the end of the pipe cleaner over a little so it wouldn't come back through.

 Then I put them all in a vase.

Um, yeah.  Didn't look so good.  I tied a ribbon around the top to make them sturdier and put them in a smaller vase.

Better.

We did this as part of Tinkerlab's Creative Challenge.  Lots of great kid bloggers will be sharing their creative uses for egg cartons.  It's a great place to go to figure out how to use up all those leftover cartons from your Easter Eggs!

Here are the participating blogs:

Tinkerlab Glittering Muffins Inspiration Laboratories Kitchen Counter Chronicles Living At The Whiteheads Zoo Make, Do & Friend Mama Mia's heart2heart Messy Kids NurtureStore PlayDrMom Rainy Day Mum Red Ted Art Sun Hats & Wellie Boots Teach Preschool The Chocolate Muffin Tree The Educators' Spin On It The Golden Gleam The Imagination Tree Toddler Approved Reading Confetti Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers The Outlaw Mom Blog HappyLittleMesses RainbowsWithinReach Mommy Labs Child Central Station Green Owl Art Reusecrafts Experimenting-Mom Duck Duck Octopus PaintCutPaste Train Up a Child Growing A Jeweled Rose Coffee Cups and Crayons Ready. Set. Read! Scribble Doodle and Draw Carrots Are Orange JDaniel4's Mom Quirky Momma A Mom With A Lesson Plan Good Long Road Two2Read

Linking to delicateCONSTRUCTION, Learning Laboratory,  Crayon Freckles, Ginger Snap Crafts, ABC and 123, Red Ted Art, 733, Mom on Timeout. Rainbow Connection, Nurture Store, Someday Crafts, The CSI Project