Spring’s arrival brings a flood of blossoms & sprouts, new sounds & fresh smells – it seems there is new life to be found everywhere! Our neighborhood is home to a pair of wild ducks, and this year they surprised us all with 3 adorable little ducklings. They’ve been tottering unsteadily through the dewy backyard every morning – getting used to their wobbly legs, tiny webbed feet and round little bodies.
In honor of our new ducklings, we decided to craft up our own little set for pretend play and read-along props. With Easter coming, I have egg cartons EVERYWHERE, so we painted them yellow, added a feather, popped each of them into a jar lid and made a set of tiny floating ducklings!
One of the things I love about this recycled spring craft is that there are so many wonderful teaching opportunities and easy ways to put it to use. Read on to learn how you can add these ducklings to a simple sensory or reading activity. Can you even stand the cuteness??
To make your own Floating Egg Carton Ducklings You’ll Need:
BASIC SUPPLIES:
- An egg carton cup
- Yellow paint and a paintbrush
- A baby food jar lid
- A feather
- A very small piece of orange card stock or craft foam
- Craft glue or a hot glue gun
- An X-Acto knife or small pair of craft scissors
- A permanent marker, black paper or googley eyes
OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:
- A baking dish filled with water is a simple way to create a “pond”
- Glass beads, collected rocks, flora
and fauna can help bring your pond to life - We recycled some old craft foam to create floating lily pads for our pond
Egg Carton Cup Floating Duckling Instructions:
- Cut an egg carton cup
Cut an egg cup from an egg carton (the middle cups worked best for us)
- Paint
Use acrylic or tempera paints to yellow (or whichever color you prefer your duckling)!
- Add a small beak
Cut a small beak shape out of your craft foam or cardstock.
Once your egg carton has dried, cut a small upside-down u-shape into the “front” of your duckling cup. It will look like a little frown, but you will push your orange craft foam piece into the “u” and ta-da! It becomes the perfect beak! - Glue a feather to the back of your duckling
Use a hot glue gun or craft glue to add a small feather to the back of your duckling – we added a tiny little feather on the top of it’s head too!
- Pop duckling into a baby food jar lid
Gently pop your egg carton duckling into a baby food jar lid – now it will float!
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We used our floating ducklings for a simple spring pond-themed sensory activity. They were so perfect, and now I don’t have a million plastic ducks sitting around I’ll never use again.
You don’t need a fancy sensory bin for this – I used a clear glass baking dish filled with water (with a blue piece of paper under the dish for a pop of color). Put some stones, pebbles or water beads in the bottom and fill with water. Add plant trimmings, lily pads (we cut ours out of foam sheets and added paper flowers) – whatever you like!
We’re also going to pair our sweet little guys with Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey – it’s one of my springtime favorites and an absolute classic. These make the cutest little props your kids can use to act out the story as you read.
If you’re loving these little ducklings, you should definitely see how we made a couple of small changes and turned an egg carton cup into a floating baby whale! Or try making an egg cup carton turtle for a few easy playdough play invitations!
