School holidays and rainy days are an ideal time to recycle those old egg cartons into works of art. Ask your parent or guardian before starting any of these project.

This is an easy project kids can do by themselves or with very little help. These flowers make a great gift for your kindergarten or pre-school teacher, Grandma or even Mum!

Materials:

Cardboard egg cartons
Scissors
Long green pipe cleaners
Craft glue
Craft paints in many colours
Green paper
Instructions:

Cut the egg carton into separate cups. 
Cut the cups into the pointed shape of the tulip petals.
Paint and decorate each cup (inside and out) in whatever colours you like.
Cutout star shapes from the green paper, to create the base of the tulip. 
Glue the star shape onto the bottom of the egg carton cup. 
With the point of the scissors or a sharp pencil, poke a hole in the bottom of each cup.
When the pieces are dry, poke a green pipe cleaner through the hole. Tie a loop on the end in the cup so it can't pull back out.
Shape the pipe cleaner into leaves, leaving a short section for the stem at the bottom.

This is an easy project kids can do by themselves or with very little help. Great for the Christmas holiday season.

Materials:

Old egg cartons
Scissors
String
Jingle bells or small bells
Craft glue
Glitter
Craft paint
Instructions:

Cut the egg carton into separate cups. With the point of the scissors or a sharp pencil, poke a hole in the bottom of each cup.
Decorate each cup however you like. Mix glitter into your paints for a quick colorful sparkle effect.
Cut a piece of string about 15 centimetres long. Tie a small bell onto one end.
Thread the string through the hole in the egg cup. Pull it all the way through until the bell hits the inside of the cup.
Tie a knot at the top of the egg cup to hold the bell securely in place.
To hang from the tree, you can tie a loop in the rest of the string, or you can tie/attach it to a regular Christmas decoration hook.

For a pretty door decoration, tie several bells to the bottom of a hanger. Decorate the rest of the hanger with ribbon or evergreen swags. Hang from a door to hear jingle bells every time the door opens!

This is our easiest egg carton craft project. Suitable for children as young as 2 years of age.

Materials:

1 egg carton cup
Red poster or acrylic paint
Black craft paint OR a black marker
White craft paint or white correction fluid
Instructions:

Cut a single cup from an egg carton
Paint the entire cup red. Choose your paint carefully as some do not come out of kids clothes. Let dry (10 – 30 minutes).
Paint or draw with markers a head on the front, a stripe down the middle and a few dots!
Put 2 white dots for eyes.

Materials:

    * 1 egg carton cup
    * scissors
    * yellow craft paint
    * craft glue and tape
    * 2 sheets of green construction paper
    * yellow tissue paper

Instructions:

   1. Cut out one egg cup from the carton. Cut the edges so that they are wavy like the centre of a flower.
   2. Paint the cup yellow, including the inside of the cup. Let dry.
   3. Keeping the yellow tissue paper in layers, cut a flower shape. The layers will provide you with multiple flower shapes. Position the flower petals slightly off centre to each other. Staple all the sheets of yellow tissue paper together.
   4. Glue the yellow egg carton cup to the center of the petals. Let dry.
   5. Take a whole sheet of green construction paper and roll it as tight as you can into a tube. Tape the construction paper so it stays as a tube.
   6. Flatten and tape the end of the end of the tube so you have a surface to attach your flower to.
   7. Cut out 2 leaf shapes from other sheet of green construction paper. Glue or tape the leaves to the tube.
   8. Attached the flower to the flattened / taped end of the green tube.

Make a brightly coloured worm on a rainy day. The length of your worm will depend on the number of egg cartons cups and the length of your ribbon.

You can add glitter, jewels, sequins or scraps of foil to dress it up.

Materials:

    * Paper egg carton
    * Scissors
    * Yellow craft paint
    * Black craft paint
    * Paint brush
    * Texters
    * 7mm Wiggle eyes
    * Red felt scrap
    * Craft glue
    * 2 Jingle bells
    * 30 centimetres of ribbon

Instructions:

   1. Cut the cups apart on the egg carton. Even out the edges so the cup will sit evenly upside down on the table.
   2. Paint the outside of all the egg cups yellow. Let dry.
   3. Using texters (or craft paint) put different color dots on the yellow cups.
   4. Put one cup aside, for the head of your worm. Paint this cup black at the front.
   5. Using the sharp point of the scissors, or a pen, punch 2 holes in each of the cups that will make up the body. The holes should be directly across from one another.
   6. Punch one hole in the back of your worm's head.
   7. Lace the ribbon through the holes to tie the worm together.
   8. Tie a jingle bell on each end of the ribbon. One jingle bell for the tail and the other inside the head of the worm.
   9. Cut a red tongue out of felt and glue on the front of the egg cup to make the mouth.
  10. Glue 2 wiggle eyes at the front of the head. Let dry.
  11. If you like, you can add a "leash" through the hole of the worm to walk it around