Are you looking for an easy sculpture idea for preschoolers or young children? This adorable egg carton turtle is the perfect craft for you.

cute kid turtle craft painted green made from egg carton, goggly eyes and pipe cleaners.

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Why use egg cartons?

We love recyclable art. We recommend using cardboard egg cartons for all of our egg carton crafts. Not only are they better for the environment than styrofoam, but they also are easier to work with.

Recommended Supplies

Pre-Cut Egg Carton: 1 cup per turtle
Tempera Paint: any colors would work but we liked using a lighter and darker green)
Paint brush
Googly Eyes
1 pipe cleaner per turtle: for the legs
1 Pom Pom: for the head
Scissors (for adults)
Glue Bottle or Hot Glue Gun (adults would assist if using the glue gun)

egg cartons, paints, pom pomo, scissors, pipe cleaners, googly eyes on table. — Recycled crafts are the perfect way to use up that old craft paint from different kits.

Before You Begin

Adults will need to help cut the egg cartons apart. This is actually the hardest part of this craft. The good news is that you only need one egg cup for each turtle. You could use the rest of the egg carton to make a fun 3-d butterfly craft.

How To Cut An Egg Carton

Step 1: Cut Box In Half

Step 2: Cut Egg Carton To Get Shell

Cut your egg carton carrier part in half. We found that flipping over our “cardboard” carrier made cutting easier.

Step 3: Remove Excess From The Sides

You may have to cut the edges to make your shell even.

scissors cutting part of brown egg carton.

Step 4: Cut Shell

You will have leftover egg carton cups, so consider making a hungry caterpillar craft or an egg carton flower next!

How To Make Turtle Craft

Step 1: Paint Shell

With young children, it is best to use washable tempera paint. You can get more vibrant colors with acrylic, but it isn’t worth it in our opinion.

paint brush adding light green paint to egg carton shell.

Let the child pick two colors to work stamp or print on to create a textured shell.

Step 2: Let Turtle Egg Carton Shell Dry

While the shell is drying, you can start to gather the other supplies needed.

paint brush stamping on dark green on painted light green egg carton part.

Step 3: Make Turtle Legs

Cut your 1 pipe cleaner into 4 equal parts. Fold each cut part into 3 equal parts and twist them together.

two green pipe cleaners with egg carton on table.

Your goal is to make sturdier pipe cleaner legs for your turtle.

supplies used to make egg carton turtle.

Step 4: Add Pom Head and Eyes

Either use a glue bottle or hot glue gun to add pom pom to the egg carton. Glue googly eyes on the sides well.

We thought it made our turtle cuter to use large googly eyes.

googly eyes on green pom pom for egg carton turtle craft.

Step 5: Add Legs

Flip your egg carton shell over and use hot glue to attach your legs in the inside corners. If your legs are uneven, you can fold the ends of the pipe cleaners to give your turtle feet and make him balanced.

hot glue on the inside of the egg carton shell. — You can notice this turtle hasn’t had the pom pom glued on yet. You can do them in either order.

Step 6: Love Your Turtles

two egg carton turtle crafts on wood table.

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If you like this easy tutorial, be sure to give us 5 stars below 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 and have fun being creative with your family.

Egg Carton Turtle Craft

Preschoolers can make the cutest turtle craft from an egg carton.

Print Pin Rate

Course: easy crafts

Keyword: cutest turtle craft, egg carton turtle

Prep Time: 5

Active Time: 15

Dry Time: 15

Total Time: 35

Author: Erin

Cost: under $2

Equipment

▢
Scissors for adults to cut egg carton
▢
Glue Bottle if googly eyes are not stickers
▢
Glue Gun For adults only

Materials

▢ Pre-Cut Egg Carton 1 cup per craft
▢ Tempera Paint you can use any colors you want, but we used light green and dark on the shell
▢ Paint brush
▢ Googly Eyes
▢ 1 piece Pipe Cleaner
▢ 1 Pom Pom

Instructions

Prep Egg Carton

Cut cardboard egg carton in so you have one cup for the shell.

Making Your Turtle

Use tempera paint to paint the egg carton. Using two colors can create a textured shell look.
Let the painted egg carton fully dry.
Cut your 1 pipe cleaner into 4 equal parts. Fold each cut part into 3 equal parts and twist them together.
Either use a glue bottle or hot glue gun to add pom pom pom to the egg carton.
Glue on googly eyes. You can also draw on a mouth or other details.
Flip your egg carton shell over. An adult should use hot glue to attach the legs in the inside corners.

Notes

If your legs are uneven, you can fold the ends of the pipe cleaners to give your turtle feet and make him balanced.
You could also make the head and legs out of paper instead of using pipe cleaners and pom poms.
Let your young child experiment and have fun making this easy egg carton craft.

Cutest Egg Carton Turtle Craft