This craft was one of the first ones that my daughter and I made together during the pandemic lockdown last spring. Aside from just being able to spend more time with her than I had gotten to before, beginning to create little things together like this was (and still is!) a bright spot during an uncertain season. What makes this particular craft more fun is the tiny brass fastener – a memorably component of my childhood crafts – that allows the egg to be hatched or unhatched. Since the brass fasteners are pretty tiny however, this craft is for older toddlers (who can be trusted with small objects) and kids. Or, you can do without the brass fastener and just glue the top shell so that the egg is hatched. Either way, this craft can provide wonderful opportunities for teamwork and creativity for kids and their grown-ups!
Materials
- Paper (white, yellow, and orange)
- Supplies to decorate the eggs with (i.e. paint, markers, crayons, etc.)
- Marker
- Hole Punch
- Scissors
- Glue
- Brass fasteners
Directions
- Draw an egg with some designs on a piece of white paper.
- Use paint, markers, crayons, or other art supplies to decorate the egg. We used some paint that was leftover from another craft kit.
3. If your egg needs to dry, you can set it aside while making the little chick to go inside it. We drew and cut out the outline of the chick’s head and body from a piece of yellow paper, and then added eyes, wings, and a small orange beak.
4. Next, cut out your egg and then, cut through the middle in a zig zag shape to create the “crack.”
5. Overlap the corners of both pieces on one side of the egg (we did the left side) and punch a hole through both pieces.
6. Insert a brass fastener through the hole. For safety and to keep it extra secure, tape the fastener to the paper as well.
7. Lastly, glue the chick to the bottom half of the egg and you’ve got yourself an activity that can keep your kid entertained for a few seconds (just kidding :P)!
You can pair this craft with a musical movement activity to a piece titled “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” (or “Ballet of Chicks in Their Shells”) by the composer, Modest Mussorgsky. (If you search for this on YouTube, we like the version by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.) This movement from the suite “Pictures at an Exhibition,” is in a type of musical form called ABA or ternary form. The first and third sections are the same (for the most part) and the middle section is different.
Here are a couple of ideas for movements with the different sections:
1 Version
A section: RUN AROUND!
B section: Wave arms side to side for the first half and then do simple patting and clapping patterns for the second half
A section: RUN AROUND AGAIN!
2 Version (with scarves)
A section: Wave scarves up and down
B section: Wave scarves from side to side for the first half and then stretch/scrunch the scarf for the second half
A section: Wave scarves up and down and at the very end, toss the scarf up and try to catch it
As always, if make this craft with your kiddos, I hope that you also make some wonderful memories together along the way!
Happy crafting and music-making!
– Hannah