Make an octopus’s garden

If there's one thing we've all learned from Playschool, it's that egg cartons and toilet rolls are the cornerstone of craft activities. Just add an ice cream container and you've got an Octopus's Garden! Sure it's not to scale, but neither is Henry the Octopus.

What you need:

• 1 x 4L ice cream container
• Beaded starfish
• Egg carton jellyfish
• Toilet roll octopus
• Pompom sea anenome
• Egg carton crab
• Flat half of an egg carton
• Green paper
• 1 x toilet roll cut in half
• Sticky tape
• Wiggly craft scissors

Number of players:
1+

Activity:

Watch the video below to find out how to make your octopus's garden.

Make lots of ocean creatures to go in the octopus's garden.

Once you've made them:

Cut the front half out of the icecream container to make a 'window' into the octopus's garden

Fringe cut your green paper and use it to line the three walls of the garden.

Using your two halves of a toilet roll, wrap each one in green paper, then fringe-cut it from the top down to make a seaweed tree.

Now get the flat half of the egg carton (the one without the cup shapes in it) and use it to make a rock shelf at the back of the garden – just cut a rough curved edge to it and sticky tape it to the garden floor.

Now you are ready to put your creatures in the garden. 

Make sure you put the octopus centre stage!

• Thanks to our sister company Kidspot Australia for creating the instructional video