Egg Carton Totem Pole

Have you seen a totem pole up close? They are impressive structures. They leave you (or at least they have left me) with a sense of wonder. For a small part of my childhood, I lived in the teacher housing section of a military academy. As a child I would walk the nearby woods. There was a path that lead to a camp ground with massive totem poles. It was one of my favorite adventures to take. I've been thinking a lot about my childhood lately. I decided to erect my own memorial totem pole from none other than...one of the greatest recyclable materials there is...the egg carton.

Find more egg carton activities here. Learn more about totem poles here.

Gather:

Egg carton

Acrylic paint

Scissors

Hot glue/gun

Sharpies

Create:

1. Decide which kind of animals you would like to make. We made an owl, wolf, fox, eagle, and a bear.

2. Cut shapes from the egg carton. Use the bottom round sections of the carton to create the faces and the body. Now use scraps to create the ears and wings. Glue it all together.

3. Paint each animal its base color.

Ultimately, I cut the foxes' ears into a different shape.

4. Add white details with a sharpie paint pen or a paint brush and white paint.

5. Once dry, use a black sharpie to create the features.

6. Optional: Glue them into a totem pole shape. Or let the kiddos have fun with them while educating them on the interesting history of the totem pole!