small hours and little wonders

It’s Easter tomorrow, one of my favorite occasions. Every year, after the Easter Mass, we spend the rest of the day together for family time. Since it’s a Sunday that’s extra special, we usually eat out or prepare our own Easter feast or go on trip for the day. The kids love the after-lunch part because that’s around the time they go a-hunting. I stage my own egg hunts for the kids and they are home run hits!

I used to just tuck the yummies here and there among plants and flowers but then there’s even more fun in placing them in containers. Small jars, store-bought plastic egg containers, small pouches… so many ideas! The plastic eggs I especially love because they come in a rainbow of colors. Bursts of Easter color are gorgeous! It adds fun to the choc hunt! Small jars, containers or pouches can be spruced up with colorful crepe paper ribbons – just tie ‘em around and let them wave in the wind from their hiding places. It gives the little kids a clue on where to find their goodies!

If you’re up to it, you can make these Easter Bunny Chocolate Holders. I did something similar some Easters back and they were a hit with the kids. Very easy to do! Since they wanted a comeback of these bunnies, I let Zach and my niece, Leslie, help me out with this project.

You will need:

• Cardboard, cartolina or chipboard. You can make use of old folders too!
• Bathroom tissue cores. Don’t have any or can’t collect a lot? Use cardboard, cartolina, chipboard or old folders to make your own.
• Markers/ Pentel Pens
• Elmer’s Glue
• Ruler
• Pencil and eraser
• Scissors
• Glue gun and hot glue sticks
• Any of these (or all!): Crayons, color pencil, pastels, watercolor paint (and paintbrush) , art paper, crepe paper, color paper scraps from wrapping paper, etc.

General Information:

Basically, your bunny is made of three parts:

• Head ~ basic shape: circle; material: cardboard or cartolina
• Body ~ basic shape: cylinder; material: tissue core or cardboard
• Feet ~ basic shape: circle; material: cardboard or cartolina

Instructions:

BUNNY’S HEAD AND FEET

Step 1: Using the tissue core as your pattern, trace a circle on a cardboard. For each bunny, you will need two circles (one for the head, another for the feet). Draw as many circles as you can but don’t space them too near each other. You will need space to complete the set by drawing the ears and feet.

Don’t have tissue core for pattern making? No problem! Look for something else you can use: a bottle or jar cover, a can, anything circular! Use something that measures approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. Don’t worry too much about size, let’s keep everything easy and light!

BUNNY’S BODY.

Step 2: Prep your tissue cores. Collect as many as you can. The number of cores you have will be dependent of the number of bunnies you can make or want to have.

If you don’t have enough cores, you can make them out of cardboard. Typically, it’s size will be around 4×6 inches. Measure and cut.

DECORATE!

Step 3: For bunny’s HEAD: Draw ears freehand. Just make loops on top for ears and fill in the bunny faces.

Step 4: For bunny’s FEET: Draw feet freehand. See picture.

Step 5: Outline your drawing with Pentel Pen or marker.

Don’t worry about it not being perfect. I let the kids draw most of the faces and feet and they were amazing.

Step 6: Dress up your bunny’s face, feet and body. Decorate as you please! Use glue and art paper, crayons, watercolor, pastels, glitters… let the creativity flow!

AND WHEN YOU’RE DONE DECORATING YOUR HEART OUT…

Step 7: If you made your cores from scratch, hot glue the ends to bring them together.

Step 8: Put some hot glue dots on one end of the core and stick it to the bunny’s feet.

Step 9: Hot glue the face to the upper side of the core. One or two dots should do.

Nevermind if the face, body and feet do not match. See what amazing color and pattern combinations you come up with when putting all the parts together.

THE BEST PART

Step 10: Fill up your Easter bunny holder with chocolates, small toys, and other goodies. Hide them in the house or in the garden.

Let the kiddos run wild with the hunt and round them up afterwards to check out their finds!

I hope you enjoyed this tute. I guess I could have done better by providing a downloadable pattern. Next time, okay? We made a lot of bunnies, ready for Sunday! I love how the kids pitched in. True, the surprise is lost on them, but I will have to think of something better and secret for next year.

I love their artwork! Here’s a few of my faves from Zach. Crooked outlines, his own brand of bunny faces, rough patch coloring and painting, how he even cut them out himself… LOVE!

Happy Easter everyone!

~0~
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