When a holiday comes around, many parents and teachers look for creative ways to engage children in festive activities. A common approach is to use the symbols of the holiday to inspire meaningful and fun art projects. This particular project was designed around the simple egg shape—an oval—to encourage children to create their own imaginative "egg people."

This project is highly adaptable, making it suitable for a wide range of ages. Younger children can focus on basic decoration, while older children can expand on the concept with more detailed designs and stories. This flexibility allows the project to grow with the child’s creativity and developmental stage.

To start, I prepared several oval shapes in different sizes using sturdy tagboard.

For younger children, pre-cutting the ovals is helpful since cutting an oval can be more challenging than cutting a square. However, if the children are old enough, allowing them to cut out their own ovals adds another layer of involvement and fine motor skill development. Providing different sizes of ovals also invites creativity, as children can decide how they want to use them—perhaps as heads, bodies, or even accessories for their egg people.

Once the ovals are ready, the next step is for the children to decide how many egg people they want to create. They can paste the ovals onto a darker-colored piece of construction paper to make their designs stand out, either before or after decorating them. This decision-making process allows for personal choice and creativity in how the project unfolds.

To bring their egg people to life, offer a variety of materials for decoration. This can include buttons, yarn, fabric scraps, googly eyes, markers, sequins, and more. The wide array of materials encourages children to think outside the box and design characters with distinct personalities and styles.

Some children might create a family of egg people, complete with different clothing and facial expressions, while others might invent whimsical characters with wild hairstyles and colorful outfits.

For an added twist, turn the egg people into puppets by attaching them to thick tongue depressors or craft sticks. This transforms the art project into a hands-on storytelling activity. Children can create multiple egg characters and put on puppet shows, inventing stories and dialogues that enhance their language and social skills. Alternatively, they can arrange their egg people into a family or a scene on their construction paper, telling a visual story through their art.

This project offers endless possibilities for creativity. Younger children may focus on simple faces and basic outfits, while older kids might add details like accessories, backgrounds, or even dialogue bubbles to give their characters more depth. The project not only engages artistic skills but also fosters storytelling, imaginative thinking, and fine motor development.

Holiday crafts like this are more than just busy work—they are opportunities for children to express themselves and engage in meaningful play. Using simple shapes like ovals to spark creativity allows children to explore their ideas freely and build confidence in their artistic abilities. Whether the egg people become part of a puppet show or a creative collage, this activity brings joy and learning together in a fun, holiday-themed project.