Kid's Crafts Thursday - Yarn Eggs

So, this week I set out to find something 'Easter-y' to do with the kids for our weekly craft project. I came across this Yarn Egg project on FamilyFun.com. I thought it would be a great choice for several reasons. 1. We have never done anything like this before. 2. I have yarn - lots of it! 3. We don't have too many Easter decorations, and these would make really cute decorations! I'm sorry to report that this craft was a total FAILURE. Read on to find out why....Here is what you will need to do this project (if you so choose after reading about our horrible experience):

-Cotton Yarn (bonus if its in fun easter-y colors)

-Balloon(s)

-Glue

-Shallow disposable container

-Newspaper

-Something to hang the egg up to dry with after (clothespin or binder clip, or something similar)

Pre-Project Prep:

1. Gather all your supplies

2. Cut 20 - 3 foot long strands of yarn. I orginally cut out 30 strands per child and cut it out of pastel blue, pastel pink, and pastel yellow acrylic yarn. Don't be stupid like me and assume that acrylic will work just as well as cotton. It doesn't work at all actually...it does not stick to the balloon. Of course I didn't figure this out until we started and I had to switch to cotton mid-way thru the project. It didn't go over well.

3. Blow up however many balloons you want to make. Trust me...one is plenty. Blow it up to about 6-8" diameter or however big you want it.

4. Mix the glue with a little bit of water in the shallow disposable container. I just cut some paper cups down for this part.

5. Line the table with newspaper...very important for this project.

Its go-time. Get the kiddos!

1. Put smocks on the kids.

2. Have the children dip the strands of yarn into the glue mixture. Then run the yarn between your fingers to get off any excess and to ensure the entire strand is coated in glue.

3. Wrap the yarn around the balloon, trying to tuck in the ends. Repeat with the rest of the yarn strands.

4. Hang the balloon up with the clothespin (or binder clip, or whatever) and let it dry overnight.

5. The next day you should be able to pop the balloon and have a yarn shaped egg.

Okay, so that's how it should work. But, guess what....it didn't. I ended up doing most of this project by myself. First we had the disaster with the acrylic yarn. Then the kids couldn't figure out how to get the excess glue off the yarn so I had to do all of that. Then the 3-ft long yarn strands were too long for Ryleigh to hold on to and hold on to the balloon and wrap it around. Then the yarn kept falling off. Not to mention that Isaac was totally over this project about 2 minutes into it and ended up just body-painting with glue. As you can tell...we didn't even really finish. Our balloon doesn't have as many strands on it as its supposed to. But, I couldn't deal any more, so we kind of cut it short. Here's what the 'egg' looked like right after I popped the balloon:

And then 5 minutes later:

My final conclusion: This project would be better suited for older children and parents with lots of patience. :)