Showing posts with label Make Your Own Farm Animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Make Your Own Farm Animals. Show all posts

10.12.19

Egg carton bunny burrow bank!


This little bank of burrows is great fun to play with and a handy place to keep your egg carton bunnies.

You'll find the bunny project HERE.

For the rabbit warren, snip the middle cones off inside the carton and use cotton wool or fold some kitchen roll to make it cosy inside. Paint the outside green.

While that's drying, cut an egg cup from another egg carton, and trim above any cardboard joins or gaps, so you end up with a short cup. This is going to be the tree stump.


Make up a brown colour (mix yellow and red, then add a dab or two of blue), add a little to some white to make light brown and paint the top of the stump. Use the brown to paint the around the side, plus a little around the top edge.


Cut a strip of green paper, about 2cm wide, long enough to wrap around about two thirds of the bottom of your stump.


Fold it in half longways, and snip zigzags along one side, up to the fold, for the grass.



On the other side of the fold make a few snips along the strip - this makes it easier to glue under the edge of the egg carton. Brush glue along the edge and inside the egg cup, and press the paper into it.




Make some burrows in your egg carton bunny bank (we used nail scissors to pierce a hole - keep them closed, press down and twist from side to side - then cut a burrow.

Glue the tree stump in place and add some bunnies!





29.9.18

Clarissa the Cow - from 'Make Your Own Farm Animals'



I haven't shared many projects from 'Make Your Own Farm Animals' and thought it was about time I did! I'm really fond of this one, because the head shape is already there, in the shape of an egg carton, all you need to do is cut it out. 
The body is made the same way as many other animals you'll find in 'Make Your Own Farm Animals' and 'Make Your Own Zoo'. 

You will need:
Two toilet paper rolls
Egg carton
Sheet of newspaper
Scissors
Pencil
Ruler
Craft glue
Paint
Nail scissors or similar (with adult supervision)
Black pen

1. To make the legs, flatten one of the toilet paper rolls with your hand, press down firmly, then cut along the creases so you end up with two pieces of card. Keep one piece for later.



2. Take the other piece and fold it in half lengthways, again pressing down firmly, before cutting along the crease.



3. Fold each of these card strips in half lengthways again, pressing firmly along the fold. You will now have two folded strips for the legs.


4. Shorten the other toilet paper tube to about 8cm/3in. for the body (either estimate roughly or use the ruler the measure and mark 8cm on the tube, squeeze the sides together near the mark and then cut across the tube on the mark).


5. Hold a ruler along the length of the body tube and draw two lines about 1cm (1/4in.) in from each end. Make each line about 2cm (3/4in.) long.

6. Repeat this about 3cm (1in.) further round the tube, so you have four marks for the leg slots.
Then make a hole in one of the pencil lines with the nail scissors* (keep them closed, press down firmly, twisting from side to side). Once the scissor have pierced through, cut along the line. Repeat for the others.

*This should be done by an adult, or under careful supervision)


7. Wiggle the closed scissors in the slots to open them up a bit, before threading a leg strip in a slot and out the opposite one. Repeat with the second leg piece. Once they look level, hold the tube tightly near a slot and firmly fold the the legs down.  


8. Trim the legs so they're not too long and your cow body doesn't wobble!





9. The head is simply cut out of the end of an egg carton - the moulded cardboard shape is perfect for a cow's muzzle. Use the picture below as a guide and draw either side of the moulded part that separates the eggs, draw ears in the egg cup sections either side of the muzzle and take the top of the head up as far as you can go, so it's right on the join with a middle cone.


10. Roughly cut out the head shape first and then cut carefully along the line - keep some of the cardboard join at the top of the head if you can, as it makes a good fluffy forelock of hair. (Apologies for carton colour change!)

11. Cut a piece of newspaper (roughly 20x20cm/8x8in.) and scrunch it up so it just fits in the end of the tube. Take it out and brush glue inside the end of the tube, before pressing the ball of newspaper back in, making sure it protrudes slightly. Glue the head onto the newspaper.



12. Cut a strip of card for the tail, from the spare piece of toilet paper roll from earlier, and glue it under the top end of your cow. Leave to dry.


13. Once dry, paint your cow. If you would like to do a black and white one, like ours, then paint the whole thing white first, before adding the black markings. 
(The wet paint will make the legs go floppy - don't worry, when dry just bend them back into place.)


14. For the head, you could draw circles where you want the eyes to be and then paint around them. Paint the snout pink and when dry use a black pen to add nostrils. Bend the tail down, into place. 
(if your cow is a little head heavy and tipping forward, scrunch up another piece of newspaper and stick it in the tail end).




If you enjoyed this project, there are many, many more in 'Make Your Own Farm Animals'


5.6.18

Egg carton sheep

egg carton sheep

These sheep are the first project in 'Make Your Own Farm Animals' and they're really quick to do - a few egg boxes, cotton wool and a black felt tip, and you'll have your own flock before you know it!

You will need:
Egg carton
Pencil
Scissors
Cotton wool
Glue
Black felt tip pen (or a Sharpie if you're happy to use a permanent pen)

1. Cut out an egg cup, roughly first, then neaten up the edge. Turn it upside down and draw a cross on top with a pencil (see below), and continue the lines down the sides of your egg cup.
This should give you four well spaces legs.


2. Use a black felt tip pen or a Sharpie to colour in the bottom part of the legs, so they are more chunky.



3. With your scissors, snip up the sides of each leg (8 snips) - don't worry if you snip too far, you'll soon be covering the top part with cotton wool.


4. Snip the card HALFWAY BETWEEN each leg too (4 snips)


5. Push all the flaps of card, between the legs, under your sheep, leaving the four legs down.



6. Cover the top of the egg cup with a thin layer of glue. Tease out a small piece of cotton wool with your fingers and stick it on top of your sheep. A small amount of cotton wool looks best.



7. Draw a head on either the egg carton lid or some spare cereal box card. Keep the shape simple so it's easier to cut out.


8. Use the black pen to draw two circles where you would like the eyes to go and colour-in around the circles. Add a black dot in the eye if you want. Glue in place.



9. For a lying down sheep, cut a shallower egg cup from your carton and cover the whole thing with cotton wool. Glue on the head.


TIP: A white correction pen (like Tipp-Ex) is handy for eyes if you want to add them after colouring-in the head, or you want to make a sleeping sheep with closed eyes.



Many more animal projects like this in my book, 'Make Your Own Farm Animals'



12.12.17

On the tenth day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me, ten Lords a leaping,

10 lords a leaping

nine ladies dancing,


 eight maids a milking,

8 maids a milking

seven swans a swimming,

7 swans a swimming

six geese a laying,

6 geese a laying

FIVE GO-OLD RINGS...


four calling birds,


three French hens,


two turtle doves,


and a partridge in a pear tree