Egg carton Apples

I'm not ready for fall yet.  We've had weather from the 70s to the 90s.  But since the last of my peaches have been picked then it must be fall.  I was inspired by Sugar Aunt's egg carton pumpkins, but not quite ready for pumpkins yet, so...

...Chiquita and I decided to makes some bright red apples!  First we painted the bottom of an egg carton red.  Chiquita loves to paint but still needs some help with the paint globs and getting in the nooks and crannies.  For me it's more fun to do it together rather than have either of us watching.

After a day (or two) of letting the egg cartons dry I poked holes through the tops and cut them out.  Chiquita really wanted to help cutting but it was a little beyond her current scissor skills so I encouraged her to cut up the scraps while I navigated around the bumps and curves of the egg carton.  I cut up a green chenile pipe cleaner for our stems (Chiquita wanted to do this too, but strength ended being the issue for this cutting activity) and Chiquita added them to all of our apples.

After we played with them and counted them a few times, I decided to see if I could glue the halves together to make more round apples.  The egg carton materiel falls apart easily so they aren't really "polished" apples but they make excellent cat toys!  I think they would be cute hanging from some branches for a centerpiece or something, but in my house they would probably still end up as cat toys.