Crafts

Make egg box animals

How’s this for a fun way to brighten up your bedroom? Recycle old egg boxes to create cool 3D portraits of your favourite creatures and experiment with bold colours and bright backgrounds. The only limit is your imagination!

Before you get started

What you will need

  • A selection of old egg boxes
  • A pencil
  • Scissors
  • Some squares of old cardboard
  • PVA glue and a spatula or brush
  • Poster paints and a brush
  • A permanent black marker
  • Coloured markers

Method

Instructions

Choose an animal

First, think of some animals you want to make. You could create portraits of your own pets, local wildlife, or perhaps some farm animals. Or go wild with dinosaurs. Or imaginary creatures like unicorns or dragons.

Draw your animal's face

Draw the animal’s face directly onto your egg box, including any ears or horns. The two cones that stick up inside the carton make good longer faces (for a horse or crocodile, say).

Turn the carton over and the six smaller domes make good smaller faces or baby animals. Carefully cut out your faces.

Cut your cardboard

Cut out a piece of cardboard as your canvas. It could be a square, rectangle, circle, oval – it’s up to you. 

Add your animal face

Put your 3D animal face (or faces!) on the canvas and use your pencil to sketch out the rest of the body. Is your animal going to have clothes or props?

Design a frame

Design a frame around the edge of your canvas.

Stick on your egg box

Once you’re happy with your design, spread a little PVA glue around the edges of your egg box face (and any other body parts you’re using) and stick it in place. Set it aside to dry completely.

Repeat the above steps

While you’re waiting for it to dry, you can repeat the steps above for your next creation. 

Get painting!

Once it’s dry, get to work with your poster paints and/or markers, adding colour.

Add features

When the paint is dry, you might want to outline or add features using your black marker.

Share your creations

If you had fun with this project, we’d love to see the end results! Send us a picture of your finished craft for a chance to appear on our online gallery.