Hundred Acre Wood Egg-stra Special Eggs

With Easter just a few weeks away, the characters from Hundred Acre Wood have some ideas on how you can celebrate the holiday an egg-stra special way.

Easter Egg Decorating Ideas

WINNIE THE POOH is our beloved ‘hunny’-loving bear, so why not choose one of his favorite things – a honey jar – to create as an Easter egg? You want it to look like a real honey jar so use tape to cover the top of the egg where the lid will be and also a wide strip of tape around the middle for the ‘HUNNY’ label.

Boil half a cup of water, mix in 30-40 drops of blue food dye, and one tablespoon of white vinegar. When it cools, gently lower the egg into the pot. The longer the egg remains in the pot, the darker the color gets! Once you are happy with the color, take it out with a spoon, dry it and remove the tape.

Then stick the word ‘HUNNY’ in tape to the egg, and pop it back in the pot, just for a few seconds to make the ‘label’ pale blue. Finally, you can use acrylic paint for a blob of honey and leave the word ‘HUNNY’ in the egg’s natural color. If Pooh could see your Easter egg, he might think it looked so much like a honey jar that he would keep it in his personal collection!

TIGGER would be ecstatically happy about painting Easter eggs. You could have a go at painting an egg that looks like Tigger! First, use an orange watercolor crayon to paint the entire egg orange. While it dries, bounce around a bit – Tigger – style! Then draw in the tiger stripes with a steady hand and a black marker and fill them in with a black watercolor crayon. You can use a pink button for the nose and draw on eyebrows, eyes, mouth and whiskers with the black marker. Tigger-tastic!

EEYORE we all know would probably be less excited about painting Easter Eggs, so why not create one of his favorite food — thistles, of course! All you need are some crayons, a little spinach and also purple and green acrylic paints. Draw the thistle with a crayon, to prevent the area from being dyed. Boil the spinach, letting it simmer for 45 minutes. Put the egg into the water to color it green. The crayon colored thistle won’t dye (due to the wax in the crayon), so you can use acrylic paints to finish your egg.  Even Eeyore would have to admit it looks pretty sweet.

PIGLET loves his friends, and his motto is “Even if you are rather small you can still have a very big heart.” Why not paint a Piglet style Easter egg, with huge hearts on it? First, draw seven hearts with a marker, and then use small pieces of sponge with different colors to paint the egg. You can paint the whole egg pale blue like the sky and then paint each of the hearts with one of the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Piglet would love this Easter egg because it’s small and cute, just like him!

If you want some egg-stra fun, click on each picture for a coloring page. You can also read more about the Winnie the Pooh movie opening July 15 here.

Epcot’s Flower and Garden Project

Epcot’s International Flower and Garden Festival is in full bloom. Why not bring a little bit of spring into your own home? Today we have a guest writer, Beth from Pursing the Magic, who is going to show you how to transform your house into spring. Enjoy!

As we approach the first day of spring, my daughters have decided to create some spring decorations for our slider window. These flowers are easy to create and a lot of fun. My daughters are four and three, and I think they could have created these all day long!

For this activity, my girls were very excited to use the paint. So before beginning, I gave them an opportunity to experiment with the paint by using it to create anything they wanted on construction paper. Once they had created a couple masterpieces each, I decided to begin the activity. Whenever we use paint, my girls always wear aprons to protect their clothes. I also have an easy clean up solution. I tape wax paper down to the table where they will be working. I have also found that plastic tablecloths make for easy clean ups. I especially like when I can find those cheap after a holiday. This past year after Valentine’s Day, a local department store had pink and red ones for 25 cents each. Of course, I stocked up!

Use the three paper plates for the paint. You will need to add a thin layer of paint to each. I used a plastic knife to actually spread the paint in the plate. I only had one color per plate, but this activity could also be used as a great opportunity to explore color and what happens when you mix them. I recommended cardstock for this project rather than construction paper, simply because construction paper will curl up when it is wet from the paint.

When I do arts and crafts with my children, I give them full creative freedom. Many times, we start out with one project I have in mind and my children take it in another direction. Should that happen to you, enjoy it and let your child take you along with them as their imaginations go to work. Most importantly, have fun!

Tools & Materials

  • Washable paint (we used Crayola Finger Paints) in red, yellow, and blue
  • 12×12 white cardstock
  • 12×12 green cardstock
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • 3 Paper plates or shallow dishes you don’t mind putting paint in

Directions

1. Model how to make a handprint. Place your hand, with fingers slightly spread apart, into the paint. Then, using the paint covered hand, make a handprint on the white cardstock. Each piece of cardstock should fit 4 handprints.

2. Each child should make 4 handprints in each color they would like. Let the handprints dry.

3. Have your child (or you if your child is not using scissors yet) cut around each of the handprints to create “flowers.” Make sure they cut down between the fingers to create “petals.”

4. Cut the green cardstock into strips to create stems. The length will depend on the size of your flowers or the size your child would like to create.

5. Use the extra green cardstock to create leaves for the stem. My daughter is able to use scissors and created leaves of various shapes. Again, the size will be dependent on the size of the stem or the size your child would like to create.

6. Use the glue to attach the flowers to the stems and then the leaves to the stem.

7. Find a place to decorate with the flowers and display them. If you want to create a “movable” display, magnetic tape would be easy to attach to the flowers and then you can create a flower garden that could change its look everyday by simply rearranging. This option also gives you the ability to use it for educational activities, such as counting, sorting, and creating patterns to name a few. Or create a more permanent display that you can add to as the season progresses. My girls have already asked to make butterflies and bees to add to their display. I think butterflies just may be our next activity!

Make your own 3D glasses

Make your own 3D glasses, then look at the picture below.

Tools and Materials

  • red and blue cellophane (available at craft stores)
  • scissors
  • markers or crayons
  • tape or glue

Directions

  1. Download and print the glasses on sturdy paper
  2. Color your glasses with makers or crayons
  3. Cut out the eyeglass pieces and the red and blue pieces covering the eye holes
  4. Tape or glue a red piece of cellophane over the left eye hole and a blue piece of cellophane over the right eye hole
  5. Fold the flaps on the earpieces and tape or glue to the eyeglasses
  6. If you’re using glue, give your glasses some time to dry. Now you’re ready to see Walt Disney World in 3D!

3D: Cinderella's Castle

Epcot Globe
3D Photos ©Paolo Dy. You can see more 3D photos on his website and Flickr feed.