earth day crafts

In celebration of Earth Day, here are some simple crafts that you can make with your child from recycled materials.

Goldfish (egg carton)

Materials Needed

• cardboard egg carton

• tissue paper or crepe paper (scraps)

• plastic eyes

• orange paint

• glitter glue

• marker

Steps

1. Cut out and trim one egg-carton cup for each fish you want to make.

2. Paint one or two layers of white paint on it so that the colours would be more vibrant.

Steps Cont’d

3. Paint the egg-carton cup and leave it to dry.

4. Paint a layer of glitter glue onto the cup to make it harder, leave it to dry completely.

5. Meanwhile, cut out some fins from tissue paper and crepe paper and stick them to the inside of the cup.

6. Stick on the plastic eyes and draw a mouth with a marker.

Tips

• Ask the egg sellers at your nearest wet market nicely for free egg cartons.

Flying Saucer (plastic materials)

Materials Needed

• 2 plastic or paper plates

• 1 plastic jelly cup

• bottle caps (assorted sizes and colours)

• aluminium foil

(Optional)• 1 cork• Playdough• glue • pipecleaner• pom pom

4. Stick the jelly cup (upside down) onto the aluminum foil, covering the aliens and pom pom (control station).

1. Attach two plates rim-to-rim (body of flying saucer).

2. Place jelly cup (upside down) on a piece of aluminum foil and draw around the rim, then cut the circle out.

3. Make Playdough aliens and place them on the aluminum foil, together with a pom pom.

Steps

5. Attach the control station on top of the body of the flying saucer.

6. Add on a plastic cap, a cork and a pipecleaner antenna on top of the control station.

7. Attach small plastic caps and aluminum squares along the sides of the flying saucer.

8. Attach two plastic caps together (back-to-back) to create the exhaust pipe (make four of them).

9. Finally, attach the exhaust pipes to the bottom of the flying saucer.

Tips

• Use Playdough that has dried up and cannot be used for modeling anymore.

• Use construction paper or scraps for windows and lights if you do not have bottle caps.

• Let children fiddle around with your materials and assemble the flying saucer on their own.

Elephant (tissue box, lunch bag

& paper plate)

Materials Needed

• 1 tissue paper box

• 1 lunch bag

• 1 paper plate

• 4 toilet rolls

• paper (white & red) • newspaper• plastic eyes• glue• sticky tape

3. Attach the head of the elephant to its body with glue.

4. Cut a paper plate into quarters (the ears).

5. Cut 4 slits (about 2.5 cm) on one end of each toilet roll (the legs) so that you will have more surface area to attach them to the body.

6. Attach the legs to the body and paint the whole elephant grey.

1. Wrap the tissue box with newspaper (the body).

2. Put some newspaper into the lunch bag until it is half full (the head), then twist the rest of it to make its trunk (secure with sticky tape).

Steps

7. Cut out the tusks and a tail from paper plate.

8. Attach the eyes, mouth and tusks to complete the elephant.

Tips

You can replace the lunch bag with newspaper and use cardboard (rolled) if you have no toilet rolls.

Taking a nature walk with your child can be one way of appreciating our Earth. It is more beneficial for us to show our love and respect for nature than our knowledge of it. Focus on the whole process of leaf hunting and leaf craft creation, not the end product. After each creation, we took a picture and rearranged the leaves to form a new picture. When we have had enough fun, we just put the leaves back in the garden.

Materials Needed

• leaves of assorted colours, shapes and sizes

• newspaper (and a big heavy book)

• paper (as background)

• glue (optional)

Leaf Craft

Tips

• Take a bag to go on a leaf hunt (also twigs, flowers and fruit).

• Rinse and press leaves once you have gathered them or they will become brittle and curled.

• Always wash hands thoroughly after each session or wear gloves.

• Start with a simple design to introduce your child to the craft, then let your child play with the leaves and trust that creativity would flow naturally.

Simple Designs

A Rabbit

A Radish

A Lady

More Complex Designs

A Bird

A Chick

A Cat

Brought to you by: