Author: Ellen Warwick
Illustrations: Stephan Britt
ISBN: 978-140-275-7617
Ellen Warwick has bought together 50 wonderful crafty uses for your egg and milk cartons that are sure to create hours of fun and entertainment for the kids.
But let me start with a few things that I think are worth mentioning before I get to the contents of the book. The whole book is made from 100% recycled materials and printed with soy-based ink. I think this is fabulous because it demonstrates the difference we can make to the planet and that recycling or reusing are high enough on her priority list that she has ensured her book lives up to her philosophy.
Eco-friendly creative crafts that will be sure to excite children of all ages. The crafts ideas contained within these covers range from quite simple creations that could be made by children starting from around 3 years old right up to more detailed and decorative ideas to challenge your pre-teens.
Each creation comes with relatively simple step by step instructions that are easy to follow and will help you discover the hidden creatures hiding within your cartons.
There are also ideas to appeal to all sorts of different children too which is a good thing. I think you could take this book into any primary school classroom and there would be something in there that every child would want to make.
From simple and small egg carton crafts like glitter flowers, grasshoppers, spiders and ladybugs which use a single egg section of an egg carton, some paint, eyes and pipe cleaners. Perfect options for the younger artistic crafts-persons.
For the more accomplished crafts-person up for a challenge egg cartons also make egg-ceptional underwater mobiles, medieval castles and school buses. There are also many options in between.
The animal loving children can make bird feeders, there’s a seed planter for the nature lovers. And for the girls – there are tiaras, bracelets and a crown. Not to mention the masks, maracas and checkers.
And that’s only in the first half, the carton creations are just as exciting! The carton sizes used in the book seem to be a little bigger than our normal milk cartons but that’s not going to matter. It will change the size of your end product a bit and don’t forget juice cartons because they are the ones more likely to come in the bigger sizes.
Carton craft ideas are much bigger and most of them seem a little more involved. they require a bigger commitment from your craftskids but that is only going to bring a bigger reward and sense of satisfaction when the time comes for the creations to be unveiled.
Who would have thought that your old milk carton could become your new favourite wallet courtesy of your children?
Carton gift boxes could make life much easier come Christmas and birthdays for something a little more unique and for the odd shaped gifts. There are also jewellery boxes, tiaras and purses to thrill the girls. The most exciting girlie one I found was a dollhouse but there were quite a lot of fabulous gift ideas like a woven pencil holder, a pretty vase, a photo frame cube and the list goes on.
The carton creation ideas for the boys are just amazing really. A dinosaur, robot, space ship, pirate ship. This impressive list of creations is sure to appeal to everyone.
Start collecting all your cartons! Egg, milk, juice – they will all come in handy when the crafty kids get started working their way through this book of fabulous and fun things to create. A lot of the additional things you need to complete these masterpieces can be found lying around your house or are pretty easy to get your hands on.
So get out there and get a copy of this to keep your kids entertained for weeks, and get recycling all those containers.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!