Little Green Heroes

Method

1. Cut the lid off of a Yallamundi Farm egg carton along the hinge.

   

   

2. To make the body for one Winter Furry Friend, cut out a pair of egg cups from the middle of the base of the egg carton with the upper and lower edges still attached.

3. Cut the end pair of egg cups off one side of the egg carton, cutting carefully around the triangles between the cups on the outer edges of the carton and making sure not to cut them off. These little triangles will become the ears and feet of your Furry Friend, so leave them attached to the big part of the carton for now. The next pair of egg cups along will become your Furry Friend.

   

   

4. Carefully cut between the next pair of egg cups to separate them from the carton, cutting carefully around the triangles on each side edge and making sure they stay attached to the pair of cups that you are detaching from the egg carton. Once cut off, you should have a shape that has a round head with two pointy ears and a round body with two pointy feet – you will create the arms from the two large pyramids in the centre of the body. Trim around the little triangles to neaten up the ears and feet.

   

   

5. Next make the beginning of the arms from the two pyramid shapes. Cut a slit up each of the three external folded edges of the pyramid, cutting about halfway up so everything is still attached at the top of the pyramid – there should be two flaps of cardboard at the bottom of the pyramid.

   

6. With the upper arm flap closest to the round head shape, use your scissors to cut a rounded hand shape from the flap and fold it up so it’s horizontal and on the same plane as the ears and feet. With the lower arm flap, cut it off where the halfway slit is, to create an underarm.

7. Now you have your basic Furry Friend shape, you’re ready to paint and bring them to life. Pick your favourite winter furry animal – we chose a fox, a red panda, and brown and yellow bears. It can help to look up a photo of your animal to look at while you are painting to capture their features.

8. Choose your base fur colour and paint the body, arms, legs and head, leaving white any parts that you would like to highlight as hands, inner ears, feet and faces. Allow the base colour to dry.

   

9. Next, paint the inner ears and the hand and feet paws, as well as the belly or face if they are going to be a different colour. Allow these parts to dry.

   

   

10. Finally add all the extra details to bring your Furry Friend to life – eyes, noses and mouths, nails for claws or whiskers, or extra fluffy fur. Allow the paint on your friend to fully dry before displaying. Furry Friends can also be used as a little finger puppet, or even for holding something small like paperclips, earrings or beads in their belly.