How to Make Egg Carton Easter Hats

Anyone who celebrates Easter normally has a surplus of egg cartons during the spring. In the spirit of recycling, help kid crafters make an egg carton hat to don on Easter. An egg carton hat is the perfect accessory to wear at an Easter parade in the yard or for picture taking. Use foam egg cartons in bright yellow or pink colors for the hat base. Let kids use their imaginations to stuff their hat nests with lots of cute artwork and Easter goodies.

Things You'll Need

• Yellow or pink foam egg cartons
• Wide silk ribbon in an Easter color
• Scissors
• White school glue
• Clear craft tape
• Green construction paper
• Ruler
• Easter grass (the type used to line baskets)
• Small plastic baby chicks
• Jellybeans

Instructions

1. Cut off and discard the tops of the egg cartons. You will use only the bottoms, which have the dimples that hold eggs.

2. Cut the egg carton in half carefully. Avoid breaking or tearing the foam. Empty any egg residue in the cups.

   For a hat to fit an adult head, do not cut the cartons in half.

3. Glue egg carton halves together, side by side. Together the two should make a square base instead of the rectangular one of the original carton shape. Allow the glue to dry about twenty minutes. Depending on the type of glue used and the construction of the egg cartons, you may want to reinforce the gluing with clear tape.

   For a hat to fit an adult head, glue two whole cartons together side by side.

4. Turn the cartons upside down. Cut two 2-foot lengths of silk ribbon from the ribbon spool. Glue the end of one ribbon to the left side of the hat. Glue the other ribbon to the right side of the hat. Allow the glue to dry about twenty minutes.

   The ribbons should be positioned so that when the hat is turned right side up, the ribbons hang straight down.

5. Cut long strips from the green construction paper. The strips should be three inches wide and six inches long. Make grass out of the strips by using your scissors to cut half way into the strips numerous times. You'll need four strips for each child hat.

   For an adult hat, depending on the size of the construction paper you can either cut two 6-inch long strips and two 12-inch long strips, or six 6-inch long strips.

6. Glue the grass strips all around the edges of the egg carton hat.

7. Put beads of glue into the dimples on top of the hat. While the glue is still wet, press the cellophane grass into the carton.

8. Glue plastic baby chicks and jellybeans into your hat’s egg dimples. After the glue dries, place the hat on your head and tie it under your chin using the ribbons.

Tips & Warnings

• Use pink construction paper for the grass fringes and pink Easter grass for the dimples for an all pink Easter hat.

• Do not use hot glue on foam. It melts the foam. In addition, use of hot glue is not appropriate for very young crafters.

References

• DGreetings.com: Easter Bonnet Crafts

Resources

• AllCrafts.net: Easter Crafts