My daughter collects egg cartons. She has a huge collection stuffed away in a cabinet waiting to turn them into something. We have used them to make fire starters in the past but the other day she decided she wanted to make some caterpillars. She got everything ready and we all sat down at the kitchen table to get our craft on.

To get the caterpillars cut the tops off of the egg cartons and then cut the bottom part in half that will give you two caterpillar bodies for each egg carton. We didn’t have any pipe cleaners on hand, which would be ideal for the caterpillar’s antenna, so we used some wire we had left over from our decoupage lantern project.

Cut the pipe cleaner (or wire in our case) in 6 to 8 inch sections. These can then be pushed through the side of the egg carton in the very first caterpillar “bump”. Once it’s straight through bend both sides up. They can then be curled up, around etc… to create the caterpillar’s antennae. This helps keep them in place and adds a decorative touch.

For the caterpillar’s eyes you could use googly eyes, pompoms, etc… we chose to make swirly eyes out of the same wire for the antennae. To do this cut a length of wire about 4″ long and using a needle nose pliers pinch the end and wrap the wire around. Leave about 2″ straight and make a bend about 1/4 past the spiral. This can then be poked through the front of the caterpillar’s head. The bend will help to prevent it from slipping out.

To add the caterpillar’s other features we simply drew them on. Once this is all done you can paint the caterpillar (this is much easier if you used a cardboard egg carton), add legs or continue to decorate them to your taste. This is the point at which my daughter stopped. We were leaving to meet up with a friend of her who had been sick and my daughter wanted to give her caterpillar to her friend as a gift so no paint or feet for this guy.

What do you use your old egg cartons for? I’d love to hear. Share your ideas in the comments below.