Poke holes in an egg
The Green Parent
Raising kids with conscience
3 Apr 2009
Hatching Chicks
Get the whole family involved in preparing the Easter meal, let everyone help decorate and then lay the table. This project will get them eggcited about the task and it can be shared by children of all ages.
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Poke holes in an egg
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Remove the egg from the shell
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Paint the eggs and leave to dry
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Use a pencil to make eggs spotty
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Glue two eyes on to each pom-pom
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Stuff the chicks into the eggs
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Make a nest from a circle of branches
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The finished chicks
What you need:
Five or more extra large chicken eggs or duck eggs (we used 8), push pin, acrylic paint, white and other colours to make a pastel shade, paint brush, pencil with a new eraser, PVA glue, five or more yellow pom-poms about 3cm diameter; very small googly eyes, orange felt, scissors, brown string, branches, white or other natural coloured feathers
What to do:
1 Poke holes in an egg repeatedly until you can break small pieces away with your fingers to create a hole about the size of a twenty pence coin.
2 Remove the egg from the shell saving the egg in a bowl. Repeat this process with all of the eggs and make holes in different positions instead of all at the top for instance, this will make the eggs look more interesting when they are in the nest.
3 Gently wash the eggs with warm water and dishwashing liquid and leave them to dry. Mix your acrylic paints until you have a nice pastel colour. Paint the eggs and leave to dry. We made our paint colour by mixing white, a bit of blue and a tiny bit of yellow. The eggs could be left unpainted, or painted in a variety of colours and patterns. The nest could be simplified by just using a pile of straw, raffia, or shredded paper.
4 When the eggs are dry, use the eraser on a pencil as a stamp to make some of the eggs spotty.
5 Take the pom-poms and glue two eyes onto each of them. Cut small diamond shapes out of the orange felt for beaks. To attach the beaks, put glue in the centre of a diamond and poke the centre of the diamond into the pom-pom. Leave the chicks to dry.
6 Stuff the chicks into the holes of the eggs so it looks like their heads are poking out and they’re having a look around. If the hole in the egg is too small, gently break a bit more egg away to make a bigger hole. If the hole is too big, stuff an undecorated pom-pom underneath the chick’s head for support so the head doesn’t fall inside.
7 Make a nest by forming a circle of branches and tying it together with a bit of brown string. Then build up the nest around the branches with more branches and line it with some feathers. Lay the eggs in the nest so you can see as many chicks “hatching” as possible.
Joan Gorman is a full-time mum, part-time art teacher and contributes the fantastic crafts pages inside every edition of The Green Parent magazine. Visit her lovely blog for inspiration.
The Green Parent is the UK's leading green lifestyle and natural parenting magazine. A truly inspiring read, TGP is like nothing else on the newsstand, with insightful intelligent journalism covering topics from babywearing and attachment parenting to home-education and alternative medicine. Each issue features regular columns on Organic Gardening, Seasonal Food and Drink, Green Travel, Ethical Fashion and lots more.
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