The Easter season provides one of the year’s best opportunities for making fun and fabulous crafts that you can use to decorate your home and to make the Easter season even more fun for your kids (as if bunnies, candies, and chocolate weren’t fun enough!). This paper maché basket is a craft that is easily adaptable for any age and any skill level. Kids love to make paper maché because it’s really easy to get messy and it’s really fun to do and they can paint them however they want. Paper maché, however, is not just for kids and for crafts that look like kids made them! You can also take paper maché to the next level, and make a very nice and professional basket out of paper maché yourself with a high quality paint job and paper maché molding job.
How to make a paper maché Easter basket
Materials needed for a paper maché Easter basket:
1.balloon
2. newspaper
3. one container of white glue
4. poster or tempra paint
5. a paintbrush
Instructions for creating a paper maché basket
1. Prepare your paper maché paste following any directions for paper maché paste.
2. Blow up a balloon.
3. Tear up the newspaper into strips that are about one inch wide. These strips can be as long as you want them to be, but they do need to be approximately one inch wide.
4. Dip the newspaper into the paper maché paste. Then run the paper through your fingers to remove any excess paste that is on the newspaper.
5. Now cover up half of the balloon in newspaper. Use no more than 4 layers of newspaper.
6. Now put two strips of newspaper on the other half of the balloon. These two strips are going to form the handle of your paper maché basket.
7. Now scrunch up some regular newspaper and line a bowl with it. Put the balloon in the bowl so that the paper maché can dry. Let the paper maché dry completely.
8. Once the paper maché has completely dried, put a new layer over everything. You want two layers of paper maché so that your basket will be sturdy enough to carry all of those Easter eggs!
9. If you want a different texture, or if you want a finer texture, then it is a good idea to cover your basket with a final layer of white computer paper.
10. Now that you have the paper maché part done, it’s time to paint your Easter basket. Keep in mind that you will need at least two layers of paint to cover up all of the newspaper. You can either do a base layer of paint, and then cover up that color with another one. Or you can paint the whole thing in various colors. This part of the basket making process is the best time to let your kids’ creativity shine. They love mixing their own paint colors and deciding where to put their different paint colors, so let them have a ball!
Now that you have finished painting your Easter egg basket, let the paint dry fully. Once the paint has dried, then you can fill up the basket with treats and with toys. If you have made the basket particularly sturdy, then it serves as a really fun basket for going Easter egg hunting with.
