by Natascha Pearson

Easter is in a few days, and my seven (almost eight-year-old) daughter is finally old enough to use a hot glue gun, and so we dove into basket making in celebration of the spring equinox.

For this project, I shopped at JoAnns. There was an excellent sale for 60% off easter decoration and buy one get one free on flower arrangements. I purchased two bundles of artificial flowers ($14.00), a carrot ($4.00), and a bundle of hanging eggs ($4.50.) I purchased a large weaved basket at Walmart for ($5.00). You will also need a hot glue gun, some scissors, a knitting stick, and hemp. I had these items at home.

First, I had my daughter take a gander at the items we’d be using and had her design her basket in her head. Then, we started adding the flowers. I cut the stems off (I had to work through the wire), added a little bit of glue to the flower, and stuck it onto the front of the basket. Next, we used the knitting needle to make room between the weaves and tied the hanging eggs on securely.

I let my daughter do most of the work, only helping when she asked for it. She glued the carrot onto the side, and we secured it with hemp so it wouldn’t get knocked off. For any flowers with extra stems, I weaved the branch into the basket for additional support. I made sure we glued all the flowers on regardless of the stem held for extra support.

As you can see, she added extra flowers along with the handle. This project can be done with a variation of Easter decorations! I would love to have included a bunny cutout. At the top of the basket, she hung the single golden egg and used super glue for support.

The Easter Basket project was fun yet straightforward low-budget project that she will keep for the rest of her easter egg hunting years. It gave her confidence in working with a hot glue gun and her artistic ability to design and create.