The kids wanted to put up Easter decorations last week. We didn’t have a lot of stuff to decorate with, and in this new “social distancing” world that we find ourselves in this year we couldn’t just run to the store and buy decorations. Good thing they were more than willing to help craft our own!
I am definitely a yarn hoarder, so off to Pinterest I went in search of yarn Easter crafts. My kids like arts and crafts, but at 5 and 7 their attention spans don’t quite allow for lengthy projects. Yarn eggs were the perfect option for us.
The best part about this project was that it required very few supplies, and all were things that we already had on hand. If you want to make your own yarn Easter eggs, here’s what you’ll need:
- Yarn of your choice
- Glue/Modge Podge
- Water
- Balloons
First, protect your work space. If the kids are helping, it’s going to get messy! Then, grab a pie dish or similar shallow container that you don’t mind filling with glue. Pour in enough glue (we used Modge Podge) to cover the bottom by about 1/2 an inch. I added about 2 tablespoons of water to mine just to make it a little thinner and easier to work with.
Next, blow up your balloons. We used standard 9″ party balloons (blown up about halfway), but for smaller eggs you could even use water balloons if you have them handy.
Now, choose your yarn. I have tons of leftovers from other projects, so we made ours all different colors. Most were worsted weight yarns, and the variegated colors were especially pretty. The only one that gave us any trouble was the yarn with a shimmery thread through it (Caron party yarn). That thread was not able to absorb the glue mixture, so it didn’t work as well.
Once you’ve poured your glue, blown up your balloon, and chosen your yarn you are ready to begin! Pull out a length of yarn (about 5-6 feet at a time) and lay it in the pan of glue to soak it up. When it is coated, lift it out of the glue and squeeze the excess off with your fingers. Begin wrapping the yarn around the balloon. The best part about this is that there’s no “wrong” way to wrap it. You can go in any direction as long as it doesn’t fall off. With the kids, we found that the best way was for me to hold each end of the balloon and spin it (imagine an ear of corn) while they guided the yarn. Keep dipping new lengths of yarn in to soak (keep the yarn continuous, don’t cut each time) and repeat the wrapping until you feel satisfied with how your egg looks. There should be plenty of free space between the yarn where the balloon shows through.
The eggs will need to hang to dry overnight. I attached ours to a string on a clothespin.
When the glue is dry, it’s time to pop the balloon and see how they turned out. One thing that I hadn’t anticipated during this step was how the air leaving the balloon would suck the yarn structure in like a vacuum. The glue will stick to the balloon, so just be prepared. My approach was to use a knife or sharp object (adults only, please) to pop the balloon in multiple spots in quick succession. That made it easier to peel the balloon away before it caved in. It took me a few tries to master this, so the good news is that if your egg does cave in the hardened strands of yarn are easy to manipulate back into the desired shape.
Here’s how ours turned out!
