April Showers: Make Recycled Rain Clouds with your Littles

It's nearly the end of April and we have our Midwest-fingers crossed that we have seen the last of the snow for a while... You never know though. Regardless, we are focusing on the beautiful flowers blooming and the fresh air as we take extra long walks these days checking out what's blooming in our 'hood. The kids love going on our "Nature walks" where we try to use words like "observe," & "collect." (Truth be told, I think they're on to the fact that sometimes if we're really close to naps and they ask to play longer I might say no... But a nature walk?! Why, of course!) #smartkiddos

Our final products. Now bring on the flowers!

As we enjoy our last week of April, we of course have been getting excited for May with the timeless rhyme "April showers bring May flowers." I had some old egg cartons just itching for a craft and found the cutest April showers activity on Pinterest. We broke the activity into a few parts so that we could sustain toddler attentions, and because different parts of the project seemed better suited for my kids various ages.

Supplies to gather.  Also I added in a couple small pony beads once we got going.

I prepped the activity by cutting the cardboard egg cartons. We used 2 cartons but reserved 4 of the egg cups for the next project (May flowers, of course!)

We started with painting. My 3 year old was really excited about this portion. The 1.5yo gave it a whirl but didn't last too long. He painted about 3 egg cups.

After we painted the cups, we covered a paper plate with glue and stuck cotton balls all over for the clouds. This was the perfect task for my little guy.

We spread the glue around together with a sponge brush before adding the cotton balls.

Once everything was dry, we were ready to hang out raindrops from the clouds. I worked on this section with my 4.5 year old who was very excited about the idea of sewing! 

I pre-punctured the holes for her to find in the cardboard and kept a close eye on her so her little fingers didn't get poked. She did a great job!

I added the pony beads on one end of the thread so the egg cups wouldn't slip off.  We also put a piece of tape hidden in each cup to keep them in place on the string once threaded through.

Finally we attached the strings of raindrops to our fluffy clouds with just a bit of tape. The older two helped each other with this last task.

Seriously, how cute are these?! Perfect little recycling craft to follow up after Earth day too!