How to Grow Cress Caterpillars
I took part in another Google+ hangout with Red Ted Art and a whole raft of UK craft bloggers last night. I love these hangouts, seeing other people’s crafty creations really inspires me. Last night we shared ideas for using up egg boxes and Maggy’s chickens, Anthea’s masks and Kelly’s little Easter baskets are now top of our Easter ‘To do list’. I also realised, as we were chatting, that Bonus Boy has never made egg carton daffodils, what an oversight! Liz’s host of golden lovelies will definitely be making an appearance ASAP!
I shared the cress caterpillar which made his appearance here a few weeks ago. Today I’d like to tell you how to make him!
How to Grow Cress Creatures!
You will need a long egg box (the ones which hold a dozen eggs), a plastic bag, cotton wool, scissors, cress seeds, pom poms, googly eyes, a pipe cleaner, glue
- Cut the top off your egg box
- Cut the top off the sticky up spikes so that it will lie flat when you turn it upside down
- Turn it upside down!
- Line the holes with pieces of cut up plastic bag (or cling film). This is really important as the egg box will dry out too quickly if you don’t and your cress won’t grow!
- Pop a ball of cotton wool on top of the plastic
- Get a willing helper to decorate the egg box. This time it was a caterpillar but, in the past, we have made monsters, dragons, hedgehogs etc.
- Add a face and some pipe cleaner antennae
- Water the cotton wool and sprinkle liberally with cress seeds
- Keep moist and you should see sprouts within a few days and be able to chop it and eat it within a couple of weeks!
Isn’t he glorious?! I love his wonky face where the water has washed off his lippy. Bonus Boy is looking forward to scalping him later and eating him in an egg and cress sandwich!
You can watch the full hangout and see everyone’s wonderful ideas here!
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- Red Ted Art's Blog » Blog Archive 10 Egg Carton Crafts and Ideas - [...] Thinly Spread made a fantastic Egg Carton caterpillar sprouting yummy cress, giving us top tips about waterproofing the activity, ...
- Ten Simple Easter Crafts - thinlyspread.co.uk - [...] have proved very popular on my blog since I first posted them a few weeks ago. Claude the Cress ...
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we just have to make this he is adoreable
This is adorabe – my daughter would love it!
Love this idea, I’ve pinned it to remind me to have a go! Xx
I haven’t seen anything like this before. This is extravagantly amazing! Very creative and resourceful. Perfect for the kids! I really loved the materials you put to complete this caterpillar. We did an Egg Carton Color Sorting Activity game out of the same materials you used. You should check it out!
I will! Thanks so much!
Ooh lovely. I’m going to do this for a bit of fun with my class!
Brilliant! Do let me know how you get on!
This is brilliant, I’m definitely going to ‘pinch’ this idea to do with my small people!
I’m always loathe to throw away perfectly good egg boxes and think there must be something more interesting and eco friendly to do with them.
Lacking some sort of crafty makey thing gene myself though, I couldn’t think what to do with them.
They’ll love making cress boxes and planting them, and it’ll liven sandwiches up!