Paper Mache Easter Eggs

We made our string eggs the other day and that was fun, but because we were all home due to the coronavirus pandemic quarantine we definitely had some time on our hands for more fun crafts!  Enter paper mache eggs.  

I've done paper mache with the kids in the past, but my daughter was too young to appreciate it at the time.  This time, now that she's older, my she had a lot more fun.  She's actually quite the talented artist!  Look at her alien and Stitch.  So cute!

Before we started I did a little research and watched this video to decide what recipe we should use.  I was waffling between glue and flour recipes.  I've done the no-cook flour recipe multiple times in the past and it's definitely a good standby, but I was concerned about wasting resources when I wasn't sure the next time I would get to the grocery store.

We are still free to move around and go to the grocery store, but face masks are recommended and there is a limit of how many people can enter the store at one time.  I believe the limit at Walmart is 200 people.  That sounds like a lot, but if you've ever seen my local Walmart parking lot, you know that number is low.  All that to say, I wanted to use the gallon of glue I had on hand for slime making (now since banned in my household!) and not the precious flour in the cabinet.  

Above you can see all the newspaper we cut into strips and our containers filled with diluted glue.  We just dipped each strip in glue, used our fingers to remove the excess, and applied to the balloon.  We did a total of about 3 layers and it took about 2 days to dry fully.

I will say that the glue paper mache did seem to create a lumpier finished product.  It just didn't lay the same on the balloon as the flour version.  You can see in the picture below all of the lines from the paper.  I don't remember it being that stark with the flour recipe.  It's been a few years, though, so I could be mistaken.  I think maybe the thickness of the flour recipe creates a more uniform paste around the whole thing.  That's my theory, at least!

Below is one last photo of the eggs I painted.  They turned out alright, but I like my daughter's eggs best!  She really did a great job!

If you missed it, here is a link to the video I watched and it compares flour and glue paper mache. You decide what you like best!

You might also like:
String Eggs