Milk Carton Bunny Basket

I found Keith's blog through my other blog and found a great thing he made with his kids.  A milk carton bunny basket.  What a great way to get your kids involved in recycling while making something fun!  

Here's his post from his blog, and don't forget to visit his blog for other tutorials and recipes too!

A couple of weeks ago after talking with TweenK about her day, I found myself reminiscing about projects we used to do in elementary school that I found fun. A lot of them, such as the clay figures and finger painting, are still done though increasingly they are moved to an art class instead of being done in the same class as the rest of their learning. One project I realized I had never heard of anyone doing after I was in elementary school were bunny Easter baskets made out of school milk cartons. I remember having a lot of fun making those, and that they weren't very difficult so I decided to make a new version in order to have a fun family project with the girls. I also thought it would be fun to share with you so you could make them with your own kids (or just for yourself)! And yes, I know Easter is a ways off, but I wanted to give you time to make them before then!

First off, you'll want some supplies. First off, you'll want some small milk cartons (1). The size I get are ten ounce, square cartons. You could use larger, but I would not recommend smaller. Next will need some construction paper or felt (8). I use felt because it gives a nice fuzzy texture. You will want some cotton balls (4) and either a piece of pink paper or some small pink pom poms (7). Optional extras are chenille stems (6), pre-made eyes (5), Easter grass (2) and jelly beans (3)!

To start, cut the top off of your milk carton, leaving the edges on top as even as possible.

Next, cut a handle out of your construction paper or felt. Ensure it is long enough to touch the bottom of both sides of the carton as well as being able to reach high enough for easy holding. Use standard glue or a hot glue gun to attach the handle to the carton. Let dry.

So far, so good! Next, cut out construction paper or felt to cover the sides of the milk carton. In my case, I was able to cut a 2 1/2 x 10 1/2 inch strip. Glue the paper/felt to the sides of the carton, ensuring it is tight and secure. Let dry. Because you attached the handle, then put on the sides, it helps to secure the handles for lifting the basket later.

Next, cut out some ears for the bunny and color them in with pink or red as shown. Glue the ears inside of the basket. In my case, I used felt, and so the ears wanted to just fall over so I glued chenille stems to them in order to keep them upright. It will also allow me to bend the ear if I'd like whereas with construction paper, you'd just need to fold the ear to create a bend. Because I used the chenille stems, which add weight, I used hot glue to attach the ears on my bunny.

Now glue a large cotton ball to the back of the bunny for his/her fluffy little cotton tail! Note that in the picture above you can see my chenille stems, which I covered with additional felt as I only had black chenille stems and didn't want them standing out.

Now for the final part. Make two eyes out of construction paper or use pre-made eyes and glue them to the front of your bunny. Take two smaller cotton balls and glue them under the eyes, tight together as well as one small pink pom pom or pink piece of cut construction paper to be the cute bunny nose. Lastly, take a sharpie and add 'whiskers' to the bunny's nose. Give everything time to dry completely. Your bunny is now complete!

Fill it with Easter grass if desired, and your kids favorite treats and you've got your Easter bunny! In addition to bunnies, you could use this same approach to make dogs, cats, cows (using yarn for tails) and other cute little critters. Let me see what you come up with and most of all, have fun with it!