Painting an Egg Carton

It's egg dyeing season which means you probably have extra egg cartons around, right?  Actually, we go through about a dozen eggs a day, so we pretty much always have egg cartons on hand.  We recycle most of them, but every once in awhile it's fun to put them to good use with an art project.

Recycled Art for Kids

My husband always gives me a hard time for hanging onto random items.  Every piece of packing material or packaging looks like an invitation to create art.  I have to make myself recycle some of them, otherwise our house would turn into a junk yard.  When I'm able, I put the recycled items to good use.  These recycled egg carton paintings were a huge hit with my three year old twins.

An Invitation to Paint an Egg Carton

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Supplies:

• empty egg carton
• tempera paint
• glitter
• pom poms
• paint brushes
• foam brushes
• squeeze bottles
• pipettes
• q-tips
• toothpicks

I filled squeezy bottles about half full with tempura paint and set all the items out next to two egg cartons and invited my boys to paint.  The squeezy bottles aren't necessary, but my boys will squeeze every last bit of paint out of the bottles.  To avoid waste I didn't want to leave the paint in the original containers.  The squeezy bottles were the perfect compromise.  They still had plenty of paint to create with, and I didn't have to worry about waste.

The other items I included for the art project were supplies I had on hand nearby.  I didn't over think it.  I grabbed what looked like fun.

Tank and Peanut enjoyed mixing the paint colors using the pipettes, and of course I enjoyed the added benefit of boosting fine motor skills.

They also mixed colors using q-tips, and they stirred up creative concoctions to "feed" me.

After squirting paint into every opening in both egg cartons they used the brushes to paint all over the cartons.

They also used the brushes to paint their hands.

They painted on the paint mats I used to protect our work surface, and they smooshed pom poms into the paint.  The texture of the pom poms provided a unique sensory experience during painting.

Before long all of the materials were combined and mixed.  Both boys created for almost an hour before asking to get clean.  

While this was, of course, a messy art project, it was surprisingly easy to clean.  I threw away the egg cartons and used pom poms and q-tips, and I rinsed the rest of the supplies while Tank and Peanut took a bath.  Here are tips for messy play as well as laundry tips to avoid stains and keep clothes bright.

For more art for kids follow me on Pinterest.

More messy painting projects:

Painting with Trucks ~ Giant Homemade Paint Brushes ~ Fizzing Rubber Band Snap Painting