Farm Animal Eggs

My grandsons and I combine two things we love—farm animals and decorating Easter eggs—to make a cute and easy craft.

Ever since I was a little girl, I can remember decorating eggs at Eastertime with my grandma and Aunt Peggy. We would boil the eggs, wait for them to cool, and dye them in fun colors before adding decorations. We mostly just used food coloring and vinegar back in those days, and I would always try to make special colors by mixing drops of different colors together. And then there was brown, the color you got from throwing all the colors in one bowl at the end.

Over the years, and especially since my grandbabies came into my life, I have been crafting more and playing with different kinds of paint. This year, I decided we would forgo food coloring and dying kits and make our eggs look like farm animals. I found some ceramic eggs to use and inexpensive acrylic craft paints, which we used to paint the eggs. Once the paint dried, we finished the animals using felt, buttons, feathers, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes.

There was some prep work on my part to have everything ready for the boys, but it was all worth it. First, I planned on taking the project outdoors, so I covered a table with white craft paper. (I am spoiled here in Savannah with great weather and can do just about all of my crafting outdoors year-round if I want to.) Next, I laid a roll of green mesh across the table only because I found it at the craft store and thought it looked like a cute little field for the animals.

Before the little ones came, I had to decide on the animals we would make and gather the decorative supplies needed. I then organized them in little jars to make it easy for all of us. I cut recycled paper towel rolls into 1½-inch pieces to act as stands for the eggs while they were being painted and dried. Then, I cut the little felt pieces to make the ears, feet, and beaks and assembled several examples to show the boys how they come together.

There is some prep time involved in getting ready for the afternoon project, but the precious thing is that these little farm animals are permanent and will last longer than the boiled-egg version that I was used to as a little girl.

Farm Animal Eggs: Step by Step

Choose which animals you want to make, and gather supplies from your local craft store. I chose a pig, rabbit, duck, and sheep, so I bought craft paints, pipe cleaners, felt, feathers, pom-poms, little buttons, and googly eyes. Paint the eggs with a good coat of acrylic paint. Most colors will only require one coat. Use paper towel roll stands to stabilize the eggs for younger ones and also to hold the eggs while they dry.

Prepare the other parts of the animals by cutting out simple beaks, feet, and ears from felt. Fold 1-inch strips of pipe cleaner in half for feet for the little pigs and sheep. Create feet and a base for the rabbit and ducks by cutting a 3½-inch piece of pipe cleaner and bending it into a circle. Cut the feet shapes from felt and attach to the circles with hot glue.

Add the finishing touches using hot glue or a low-heat glue gun and sticks with younger children. Little dots of glue are sufficient to hold the eyes, felt pieces, pipe cleaners, and other elements in place. Gluing several rows of pom-poms around the sheep’s body will take up the most time, but they sure are cute.

 

Note: Find the DIY ceramic eggs at orientaltrading.com