Egg Carton Animal Crafts and Other Uses

I'm all for recycling so when I come across some ideas to use something you would normally throw away in a craft project I have to share it. I would venture to say an average family goes through one to two dozen eggs in a month. Most egg cartons are made out of molded pulp that is made from recycled newspapers or a material similar to Styrofoam. These cartons can be used in a number of craft projects and there are several other uses for these cartons as well that I will share with you.

Egg Carton Tulips:

Cut out each egg carton sections (cups) and cut the top of the sections to look like tulips. Color each tulip section with paints, markers or crayons. When dry, poke a hole in the bottom of the section and feed a pipe cleaner into the bottom and twist the end or tie into a knot and glue to the bottom of the egg carton section. When glue dries, place in a vase and you'll have a beautiful bouquet of egg carton tulips.

Supplies needed: egg cartons, scissors, glue, paints or markers and pipe cleaners

Egg Carton Animals:

Caterpillar: Four to six cups, color and decorate the cups, punch two holes in the top of the first cup and put pipe cleaners through it for antennae and then draw on eyes and a mouth for the face.

Spider: One cup, color and decorate the cup, punch three holes on both sides of the cup and put pipe cleaners through the holes to make spider legs, draw on eyes and a mouth for the face

Bat: Three cups, cut out the side of the two cups on the end to make them look more like bat wings, color and decorate the cups, draw eyes and a mouth for a face. You can also punch a hole in the top of the middle cup and thread a string through it to hang it from the ceiling.

Use your imagination to make additional animals out of egg carton cups such as camels, ladybugs, ants, elephant, bees and more.

Additional uses:

• Great for storing Christmas ornaments to help prevent damage
• Store Christmas lights and light bulbs in the cartons
• Organize small items like nuts, bolts, craft materials, small children's toys, etc
• Use as packing in boxes when shipping items through the mail
• Store the plastic Easter eggs to reuse for the next year
• Glue or tape cups together to make money or candy holders
• Use cups as a paint tray, works great to hold a variety of temper paint colors to use on art projects and crafts