The other day I was chatting with Clara and I asked her a few questions just for fun (the girl has some serious opinions). Her response to: “what do you think the Easter Bunny’s favorite colors are?” was: “green and blue.” It was a completely matter-of-fact delivery. Not a doubt in her mind. Then, just to see what she thought, I asked what she thought the Easter Bunny did when it wasn’t Easter and he wasn’t busy delivering eggs. How did he pass the time? Her answer: he goes bowling.
Awesome.
And then that night when I was sitting on the couch after I tucked her in, it gave me an idea… what if I slipped a little homemade egg-bowling set into her Easter basket this year? Yup, egg bowling. I could even make the egg pins green and blue. So I started with these little wooden eggs (scored for 99 cents a pop at Michael’s)…
… and ten bucks and a few hours later, I had this:
They don’t exactly fall over like real pins (so if you’re a grown up aiming for a strike, you might be miffed) but if you’re a kid who likes rolling things into each other and watching them all splay out and shoot in different directions, you’re golden.
As for the how-I-did it, you know we like to keep things short and sweet over here (we think of Young House Life like a photo album, so we mainly just slap up photos or videos over here without a ton of words) but here’s my quick & easy rundown:
- I picked up 10 wooden eggs for 99 cents each at Michael’s
- I painted each row of them with various test pots of paint that I already had on hand (4 with Tropical Waters, 3 with Mirage Lake, 2 with Shamrock, and 1 with Japanese Fern, all by Behr)
- I let them dry (after two coats each of paint) and then coated them with two coats of spray sealer (Aileen’s Sealer in Gloss) just so the paint would be more protected when bowling occurred
- I dug a round blue wooden ball out of the ottoman from an old toddler toy Clara played with around her first birthday to act as the bowling ball (but I’m sure you could find a round wood ball at a craft store like the eggs)
So there you have it. A funny and random Easter basket gift that’s interactive (and based on the amazing mind of the bean). Can we just talk about how awesome it is that she is completely convinced that she knows the Easter Bunny well enough to unequivocally state his favorite colors and pastimes? I love it.
Sherry that is so creative! Great job! Clara will love it! :)
Adorable!! Love it. Clara is going to be so pumped about her bowling loving easter bunny :)
So cute! Do you think Clara will remember what she said?
I hope so! She asked Santa to get her eggs for Christmas and then when she saw them on Christmas she was like “Santa brought me eggs!!!!” – she totally remembered. It was so cute.
xo
s
So cute and thoughtful! And, Clara is quite the egg collecting lady.
These are adorable! So is the story – I love that the Easter Bunny goes bowling in his spare time!! :)
Cute Sherry! I love the colors.
Ooh! Sorry for the double post but…maybe after Easter, Clara could use them in her kitchen as emu eggs. :)
So cute!
xo
s
What a cute idea! My son loves throwing things, so this would be right up his alley (pun intended).
we think of Young House Life like a photo album, so we mainly just slap up photos or videos over here without a ton of words
Really? I browsed the archives in RSS and I wouldn’t exactly describe them as wordless. Why the need to think of Young House Life as a “photo album”?
In our heads Young House Life is for “slivers of life.” I think the average post over here us under 100 words, whereas our average on Young House Love is probably 800-1000. So it’s more like photos and captions here (or videos and captions, just like Flickr) while all of the big write-ups (even kid-focused ones like a post about breastfeeding, Clara’s birth story, etc) live on Young House Love. It keeps us sane to separate things that way in our mind, especially since maintaining two sites full of lots o’ words & tutorials might overwhelm us a bit :)
xo
s
Holy batman, let them describe it as they please. It is nice of them to even share this much more of their lives with us!
Lol @ reem’s holy batman!
:) love your work John & sherry :) incidentally, blues & greens are the colour scheme I’m switching out our living & dining area to at the moment, so I was pumped to see this scheme put to life in such a cute project :)
Aw thanks Mish! Good luck with your living and dining room :)
xo
s
MissPinkKate,
Why is this a problem for you?
I’ve always thought of Young House Life like John and Sherry’s online scrapbook. Mostly pics and videos with little snippets of captions to help them remember the small things they might otherwise forget. Maybe that’s what Sherry meant by photo album. I know sometimes I take photos and look back at them and wonder when I took it or what I was doing and wish I would have taken the time to upload them to a website or paste them in an album and write a sentence or two about it.
Yes! Perfect description! Scrapbook with photos and videos and little captions. Exactly!
xo
s
Too cute! My girl is convinced that the Easter Bunny’s favorite candy is jelly beans… just like her! Imaginations are a wonderful thing! :-) Hoppy Easter!
You are just too creative! They remind me of the adorable pink and yellow wooden eggs that Clara loved when she was smaller. =)
Of course the Easter Bunny bowls! This is an awesome idea for an Easter basket- and she will probably be thinking, “I told you so!” :)
Haha oh yes, she’ll be like “of course, mom, that’s what I said”
xo
s
Were the eggs already flat on the bottom? Clara is so funny!
Yes, they came like that! So helpful!
xo
s
Woah. I actually said that outloud when I looked at this. I am continually amazed with your creativity (and hers!) and your willingness to just run (bowl?) with the idea. Bravo! :D
Aw thanks Kristen!
xo
s
Just got two of those same eggs at Hobby Lobby (also $0.99) for my daughter to paint. I’m going to have her paint one every year so that we have a collection of Easter Eggs over the years. She’s two, I’m sure this year’s will be beautiful!
SO cute!
xo
s
Great idea Alexis!
Oh my this is such a great idea!! Thanks for sharing!
And when Clara outgrows the eggs, they will look wonderful in a bowl for decoration since they are your decorating colors!
Aw, it’s true! I can put them on the mantel when she’s 15 and say “you used to be my little girl, sniffle!” – haha!
xo
s
This is what I thought, too! I was admiring how even though the colors are bright and cheery, they’re not so obviously Kid Colors that wouldn’t look goodon their own out of context, and could be put somewhere else in the house. That’s what makes this just brilliant, in my opinion!
It’s little things like a green and blue bowling set, affirmations of what they think they already know, that keeps them believing. I think it keeps it magical, but my husband thinks I’m a nut when I’m throwing half eaten carrots all over the yard under the moonlight. XD
Haha, I love that!
xo
s
Have you seen the video of the boy who is unequivocably convinced that leprechauns are bugs? Why? Because humans aren’t green, though sometimes people have a crazy notion that they are leprechauns humans, and therefor leprechauns are bugs. Duh.
I think it’s mashables that has a set of videos of young kids explaining things. They are beyond cute.
Wow, good job to me mashing the English language into smithereens. Ahem, clarification: People sometimes think leprechauns are humans. Humans aren’t green. Leprechauns are green. Some bugs are green. Thus, leprechauns are bugs.
Haha, I knew what you meant :)
xo
s
Haha, that’s so funny!
xo
s
I tried to find wooden eggs around my little city in Ontario and couldn’t. I thought they would work better to dye with my one year old than real eggs. This is something to keep in mind for next year though. :)
This is so fun! I think I’m going to make this for my 3 yr old. And I know I have a Michaels coupon somewhere! He will love this! I have a feeling something, probably the ball, will become a projectile and the game will quickly resemble baseball more than bowling!
Hahah!
xo
s
I love those eggs. I don’t have kids and I kind of want to just paint eggs that colour and put them on a shelf. Fantastic colour choices!
i love it!!!
now i’m craving jelly beans though :/ ?
I wish I had your brain! So creative!!!
I saw those eggs the other day at Hobby Lobby and thought hmmmm I know I could make something cool. And then nothing.
She is going to LOVE it.
Your girl is incredible. Makes me want to have a bunch :)(I think I told you before)
xo
I love this!! What a cute (and non-junky) addition to her easter basket. That girl loves her eggs! :) We had a cute conversation about them while doing an egg art project today.
Adorable! Storing this in the back of my mind for when my girl is a bit older, my husband is a bowler so it would be kind of perfect.
How wonderful!
I took plastic Easter eggs and made them into car seat and stroller toys-
http://www.newmomstalk.com/2013/03/11/egg-struments-…-stroller-toys
Susanna loves them more than any other toy and it’s such a joy to watch her play with them!
Oh man, it won’t load for me. I’d love to see it!
xo
s
Thank you for the head’s up that the link didn’t work.
Here are the super easy to DIY toys-
http://www.newmomstalk.com/2013/03/11/egg-struments-diy-car-seat-and-stroller-toys/
Wendy
Looks like she was trying to provide this link – if it doesn’t truncate it for me:
http://www.newmomstalk.com/2013/03/11/egg-struments-diy-car-seat-and-stroller-toys/
Clara is so smart!
How cute! Clara is goin to be so excited to find them. It is do sweet to listen to her and make her dreams come true like that
This is such a great idea! Clara’s really lucky to have a Mom that would pursue such an idea. I’m sure this is one of those toys that will keep coming up long after Easter is over. Let us know how she likes it please!
Love the colours the bestest… but then, you must too, seeing they were left over pots of colours
Clara is a hoot and a half! I can’t wait to see her reaction when she finds this in her Easter basket. I love the ombre coloring of the egg “pins.”
Love it! Make sure to get a video of the epic bean bowling that’s sure to ensue.
Haha, will do!
xo
s
Those are just so pretty to look at! Love the glossy colors.
It’s pretty funny/cute that you listed the paint colors of the eggs! ….after all, you know someone was bound to ask had you not!
Steeeeeeeeeeee-riiiike! :)
Clara’s definitely on to something…hey, who among us hasn’t seen big floppy-eared hairy guys at the bowling alley on any given Friday nite :)
xox
I love you guys! Can I come and live with you? LOL!! Very imaginative, sweet and how lucky is Clara to have you.
Haha, come on over Gretta!
xo
s
My four year old son Connor asked me last night how old the easter bunny is. Does Clara know? Any insights appreciated. Thanks! :)
Haha, I’ll have to ask her in the morning!
xo
s
Does Clara know where eggs come from?
I think she knows that they come from chickens – she had a farm unit at school and was fascinated :)
xo
s
This is so adorable! Now I want to go to Michael’s for some wooden eggs! Does it make me a horrible parent that it’s my son’s first Easter and I haven’t gotten him anything? Haha
Not at all! I think Clara’s favorite things from her first Easter were just empty plastic eggs!
xo
s
Oh… brings back memories of my kids bowling in the house. Such a great project; Clara is going to love it!! I hope you record her reaction :)!
Thanks for the idea! I ran out to Hobby Lobby and bought some eggs & paint. They are drying right now and are so cute! My daughter and nephew will love bowling with these I’m sure!
I love that you brought Clara’s imagination to life – you are one super-cool mom.
Clara is amazing and so are you for asking her these questions and then doing something creative with it ! She will love this, great idea !
Such a cute idea! And WAY better than just a basket of candy!
First off – totally adorable idea to give Clara a miniature bowlign set for Easter. Love it!
Secondly – I thought I spied 11 eggs in photo 3 and it was driving me crazy. Then I realized the bright blue “egg” was actually the bowling ball. Lol.
Keep it up you guys – love the site!
Haha, oh yes! That one’s the ball :)
xo
s
My first thought was, darn those look tasty. Haha!
Brilliant! I love Clara’s answers and what a fantastic interpretation of them for her!
LOVE IT! So cute :) Your fam is slowly giving me the itch for kiddos, i need to get my hubs to start reading YHL!
So how did you actually paint them? Painting objects like this is always hard for me to figure out how to not get my finger prints all over it. Did you hold them while painting or just paint them while they were sitting?
I held them with two fingers and painted all around those two finger spots and then set them down on an old magazine and painted the finger spots once I set them down. It took two coats of that method and then I spray sealed them (just left them sitting up for that).
xo
s
I’m so glad you asked (cuz I was just about to). In my head, I envisioned Sherry putting them on a tiny stick/piece of wire to paint them…but that sounds way too time consuming :P Silly me! Can you tell I don’t DIY that much?
Love these Sherry! I may totally have to steal or come up with my own idea in T-minus 2 days.
Aw thanks Jess!
xo
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