Sunday, October 17, 2010

Scarecrow Grass Head Egg Planters



To make a grass head scarecrow for your windowsill you will need:



  • an empty egg shell, with enough shell left to fill with dirt,
  • a toilet paper tube,
  • brown construction paper, or a paper bag,
  • a small amount of yellow tissue paper, or yarn, to use as straw,
  • googly eyes (optional),
  • a pencil, and or pen,
  • school glue, or a glue stick,
  • scissors,
  • potting soil, enough to fill the egg,
  • and grass, or chive, seeds


For my younger children (ages 4, and 5), I prepared all the scarecrow parts ahead, and let them assemble theirs, but older children could probably manage all the steps on their own.


Begin by cutting an inch off the end of the toilet paper tube. Put the smaller piece aside, to use for the hat. Then, cut a "V" shape down from the top of the larger piece, and fold back the edges, as shown, to suggest a shirt collar.


Fringe a small square, about 2''x2'', of the tissue paper, to use as straw, sticking out of the collar, around the neck.


To make the hat, cut a circle of brown paper, around the smaller piece of cardboard tube, big enough to make a brim.



Trace the inside of the tube, with a pencil, in the center of the circle, and cut an "X" across the middle. Then fold up the four triangles created by the "X", and glue them to the inside of the tube.



For the arms, glue another square of fringed tissue paper to the each end of a rectangle of brown paper, that is just over twice as long as you want the arms to be.


Then, roll the rectangle lengthwise, using glue to hold it together.


Cut the roll in half, and fold over the cut ends, to make flaps for gluing to the toilet paper tube.

Draw a face onto the egg, carefully, with a pencil, or pen. The girls glued on googly eyes, and after they had dried, I filled the eggs with dirt, before they drew on the mouths.


Glue the arms onto the sides of the toilet paper tube, and glue on a few small, brown paper, squares for patches (a couple of pencil lines on each side of the squares, makes it look like they're stitched on). Place the tissue paper into the cut "V", and set the dirt filled egg, on top.



Sprinkle grass, or some such seeds, into the egg, and cover them with a thin layer of dirt - water carefully, but thoroughly.



Put the hat on the egg head, place the scarecrow in a sunny window, and keep it watered.


After a few days, a crop of crazy hair should shoot up through the top of the hat.


It's great to be a homeschooler.

4 comments:

Ticia said...

If I only had brain..... Or some usable egg shells

Debbie said...

Those are so cute! Leave it to Ticia to be singing "If only I had a brain"

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

How neat! I love how yours turned out. We usually do scarecrows for Thanksgiving - this is something worth considering. And making them into planters is a nice touch!

Kara said...

So so so cute and fun! I love it!