Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Ponder this age-old question while you make a clever egg pop-up card that hides a special surprise: open the flaps, and out pops a fluffy baby chick! By the end, you may not have found an answer to the question that leaves even philosophers scratching their heads, but you will have a fun spring card that's just the thing to decorate the refrigerator with for Easter.
What You Need:
- 2 8" x 10" sheets of thick paper such as poster board or card stock (you may need to cut the poster board to size)
- Construction paper in yellow and a variety of other colors
- Clear drying, non-toxic glue
- Clear tape
- Small light yellow craft feathers
- Markers
What You Do:
- Have your child draw an egg on one of the sheets of thick paper, right in the center of the page. The egg should be large and take up almost the whole page.
- Ask him to draw a line down the middle of the egg. It doesn't matter if the line is horizontal or vertical: it's up to him to decide how to do it.
- Now cut the egg so its two sides open like French doors. Poke the scissors through the paper over the center line he drew in step 2. Cut along the line and around the outer top edges of each egg half, stopping about 1/3 of the way down. Do the same for the bottom edges of the egg, this time stopping about 1/3 of the way up. Make sure you don't cut the egg all the way out! The egg "doors" should still be attached to the page.
- Show your child how you can fold the egg flaps up to reveal a hole underneath.
- Now it's time to decorate the egg. Invite him to cut small shapes out of the construction paper and glue them onto his egg in fun patterns.
- Once he finished decorating his egg, stack the egg sheet on top of the second sheet of thick paper and glue them together.
- Now create the chick. Have him cut one big circle and one smaller circle out of the yellow construction paper for the chick's head and body. Encourage him to make the big circle just a little smaller than the egg.
- Glue the little circle to the big circle so they form the shape of a chick.
- Encourage him to draw a face on the chick's head, adding eyes and a little red beak.
- Glue the craft feathers to the chick's body and set aside to dry.
- To finish the pop-up picture, help your child make a pop-up tab that will make the chick pop up out of the egg. Cut a small rectangle out of card stock, a scrap of poster board, or construction paper.
- Fold the rectangle in half. Glue the tab to the back of the chick, placing it at the very bottom of the chick so the fold of the tab lines up with the bottom edge of the chick's body.
- Now flip open the flaps of the egg and glue the tab to the inside toward the bottom of the opening. When lying flat, the chick should fit completely inside the egg.
- Fold the pop-up tab down so the chick lies flat inside the egg and close the egg flaps.
Show your child how you can open the egg and the chick pops up! Your child can write a special note inside to someone you love or simply display it in your home.
By Erica Loop
Erica Loop has a MS in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education. She has many years of teaching experience working in early childhood education, and as an arts educator at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.
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