Paper Crafts

Use lots of hand shapes and a paper plate to make this chirpy chick!

	You will need: Paper plate 1 red hand shape, 2 yellow hand shapes, 2-6 white hand shapes Glue
	Assemble the shapes as pictured. For the red comb and yellow feet we thought that the chicken looked better without the thumb on each hand shape. On the wings we layered up some hand shapes and curled the fingers a little to give the wings a feathery look.

This wee family will be a great addition to the Easter basket and are fun to make too.

We made these with colored card to make the tubes but you can also use empty toilet paper rolls and paint them. Just make sure you paint the inside of the tube and give them plenty of time to dry.

Cut various width strips from photocopy paper size card. This will give you family members of different heights.

Roll the card to the diameter tube you wish, make a mark and cut off the excess.

Draw on the eyes. Make a hole with the pin to insert the split pin for the nose or glue on a small pompom. Draw on the whiskers.

From the offcuts from the card, draw two ears for each tube and color the centers with a pink crayon. Cut out using the scissors. Glue into place and leave to dry.

Glue one edge of the card and roll into a tube. Keep in place with clothes pegs or paper clips till dry.

Cut bows from scraps of papers to use as bow ties for the boys or hair bows for the girls. Glue into place.

This tissue paper craft is all about creating texture and this cute yellow bunny looks good enough to cuddle.

Draw the outline of a simple bunny shape. I used bowls to trace circles for the body and head. Don’t forget to leave room on the card to draw in the ears but use the whole sheet of card so the picture is not too fiddly to fill in. Draw in the ear, eyes and nose details and cut the bunny shape out.

Tear the tissue paper into small strips.

Scrunch one strip at a time and then dip it into the glue. Stick it in place on the bunny shape. It is best to do the eyes, nose and the pink centers of the ears first.

Fill in the rest of the bunny with the scrunched tissue. I used smaller pieces of tissue around the eyes, nose and ear details.

I covered the card completely with tightly packed tissue but you can play with the texture by scrunching the tissue paper less and letting the color of the card show through. Leave to dry well before cuddling!

More great Easter crafts on my Easter Paper Crafts for Children list.

This is a simple way to make a basket and uses the same principles as the fold out paper garland. This make a lovely homemade Easter gift especially when filled with goodies.

Fold a photocopy size sheet of card in half but leave a 1cm tab sticking out along one edge. This will be used to attach the sides of the basket together.

Fold each side back on itself to form a concertina – don’t forget to leave the tab sticking out.

Leaving another tab at the bottom of the concertina, draw a circle for the bunny’s head. I used a small lid to trace around. Remember to make sure the circle goes over the edges so that you don’t cut the folds as these folds form the corners of the basket. You will want to have a good bit of fold uncut to ensure the basket is strong enough to hold the treats. Don’t forget to add some ears.

Leaving the concertina folded and making sure the side tab is folded in as well, cut out the bunny cutting through all of the layers.

When you open it up you should have a row of four bunnies and a small tab to join the sides. This would be a good time to draw in the eyes and mouth and color in the ears. But if, like me, you get too involved with constructing the basket to do the drawing bit now, you can still do it later though it makes it a rather fiddly job.

Fold the bottom tabs up. Glue the side tab behind the first bunny’s cheek so it is not seen from the outside. Glue the corners of the bottom tabs together to form a square bottom.

Once dry trace the outline on the extra piece of card and cut it out. Glue the square to the bottom of the basket and leave to dry.

Glue the handle in place. Fill it with some treats, or you can also line the inside with tissue or paper doily first before you add treats.

More great Easter crafts on my Easter Paper Crafts for Children list.

Any paper craft that has moving parts is always a hit with children.

You can make this cute chicken any size you wish or adapt the technique to make other flapping or running creatures.

Draw an egg shaped body and two wings on some yellow card and cut them out. Cut two legs from some orange card. Cut a diamond shape from the orange card. Fold the diamond in half to make the beak. Glue the beak, eyes and legs in place.

Use a pin to make a hole on each side of the body and on each wing piece. Attach the wings by inserting brads (split pins) through the holes on the body and wings.

If you want to turn it into an Easter Greeting for someone special, write ‘Happy Easter’ on the chicken’s tummy and send her on her way.

More great Easter crafts on my Easter Paper Crafts for Children list.