Why does the Easter bunny hide chocolate eggs, how did it become a symbol of the holiday? Materials for making crafts. The best ideas for how to make an Easter bunny: from paper, fabric, food, thread and felt.
The Easter bunny is the same symbol of Easter in Western countries, like our Easter cakes and colored eggs. American and European children believe that this fluffy character hides chocolate eggs in his burrow, but only good and well-mannered children can find such an unusual sweetness on Easter morning. In recent years, we have already adopted many good traditions from other countries, and decorating the house with our own hand-made Easter bunnies will become another wonderful and kind custom.
How did the rabbit become the symbol of Easter?
The tradition of making Easter rabbits with your own hands goes back to pre-Christian times, when the goddess of spring and fertility, Ostar, was revered on the territory of modern Germany. Its holiday was considered the day of the vernal equinox, and the symbol was one of the fastest-breeding animals on the planet - the rabbit.
With how the rabbit became a symbol of spring, everything is more or less clear, but why is he, and not a chicken, laying eggs in a burrow? There is no exact answer to this question, there are only some legends and guesses, each of which deserves to be true:
- During the Great Flood, Noah's ark stumbled on the top of the mountain and damaged the bottom so that water would not rush in, the little bunny plugged the gap with its tail. For the salvation of all the inhabitants of the ark, praise is given to this fluffy brave man.
- According to the second legend, the rabbit brings eggs to people as a gift, supposedly atoning for the trees he gnawed in orchards and vegetable gardens.
- A beautiful legend says that the famous German writer decided to entertain his guests and invited them to look for eggs hidden under the bushes in the garden. Whoever found them had to take them all year.
- One of the most plausible explanations for the rabbit hiding Easter eggs is that the Germans did not want to forget the traditions of the ancestors of the pagans and combined them with the Christian symbols of Easter. But since the bunny, although a very prolific animal, cannot lay an egg in any way, it was Easter eggs made of chocolate that were invented.
To decorate their homes for Easter and pay tribute to pagan and Christian deities, German housewives made Easter rabbits out of fabric or thread, cut them out of wood, molded them from clay, and always put a beautiful and original decorated Easter egg in their paws.
Together with the emigrants, the tradition of honoring the Easter bunny and looking for chocolate eggs hidden by him swam across the ocean and took root in North America. There, just like in Germany, the rabbit has become an integral symbol of Easter, and American needlewomen have a new pre-Easter concern - to decorate their home with original figurines of the fluffy symbol of Easter.
Many articles and books have been written in the West about how to make an Easter bunny, videos have been shot and master classes are held. Almost any materials are used for its manufacture, and on the Internet you can find patterns and patterns of Easter bunnies of any size and design. If you want to make Easter not only a religious holiday, but a fun and memorable event for your child, be sure to invite him to sew an Easter bunny with his own hands or make it out of paper. Such an activity not only contributes to the development of fine motor skills, but also gives a real spring-festive mood.
What materials to use for the Easter bunny?
Easter is a family holiday, so the whole family should be involved in preparing for it. The creation of the Easter bunny is no exception. So that even the smallest family members can take part in its manufacture, use only safe materials.
You can make an Easter bunny from the following materials:
- Paper and cardboard … This is an affordable material that is found in every home. Colored paper could be left over from New Year's crafts. If necessary, you can purchase it at a stationery store. Paper is needed not only to create a toy out of it, but also to transfer the pattern of the Easter bunny to it, if it is planned to make it from fabric.
- Thread or yarn … An Easter bunny can be crocheted from threads easily and quickly, or they can be used to decorate a toy made of fabric. You can make a mustache or a tail from a thread pompom from threads to a bunny.
- Food … The Easter bunny can be not only cute, but also delicious. It can be made from any food of a suitable shape, it can be a bunny-shaped pie or a composition of boiled eggs, garnished with vegetables. A master class on cooking an Easter bunny can be found on any culinary channel.
- Felt … Warm, soft fabric that makes toys pleasant to the touch. Working with it does not require much effort, so even children can sew an Easter bunny out of felt with their own hands. There is a wide range of felt colors in fabric and handicraft stores, so you can create an Easter symbol that will fit any interior.
In addition to the material for making the Easter symbol, it is imperative to prepare a working tool. No matter which Easter bunny pattern you choose, you will need scissors, sewing thread and a needle. Prepare glue for your paper craft. If children are involved in the work, it is better to use safe PVA. To make a knitted Easter bunny, you need knitting needles or a crochet hook. To decorate the craft, you can use paints, sequins, buttons, buttons, glitter, colorful ribbons and any other decor that you only have at hand.
The creation of Easter colic with your own hands is preceded by a rather lengthy preparatory process. First of all, you need to think about how it will look, select the necessary materials. It is also important to assess the capabilities of everyone who will take part in the production of the fluffy Easter symbol. If school-age children work with you, they will be able to use scissors, a needle and other sharp objects in their work without any problems. In this case, the help of an adult may consist only in finding a pattern for an Easter bunny.
If preschool children take part in the work, the adult will have to take on most of the work. For such kids, it is better to choose an Easter bunny out of paper and cut out blanks for them, but they can glue the parts with safe glue on their own.
If you want to surprise your guests not with an ordinary craft, but with a real designer masterpiece, then the tilde Easter bunny is certainly suitable for you. You can make this original fabric bunny yourself, the main thing is to choose the right material and find the appropriate pattern.
Best Easter Bunny Making Ideas
We present the most popular and simple Easter bunny master classes that will help both adults and children make crafts at home.
Easter bunny made from groceries
This edible rabbit will delight all household members on Easter morning. To prepare a festive breakfast you will need:
- pancake dough;
- banana;
- whipped whites;
- melted chocolate.
Bake round pancakes of different diameters. Of these, you need to choose 1 large pancake for the torso and 1 smaller pancake for the head. Also make 4 oval ones for the ears and paws. Collect a hare on a plate of ready-made pancakes. For reliability, you can "glue" its parts with honey.
The hare's tail is made with whipped squirrels, the fingers are made of chocolate cream, and the pads on the legs are replaced by slices of banana. Such a hare needs to be made for every family member, it will be the most unforgettable Easter breakfast.
Important! Honey can only be used if no family member is allergic to it.
Easter bunny made of fabric
Making an Easter bunny with your own hands from fabric is very easy and quick. Any material in density and color is suitable for it, but since it is planned to make a spring festive symbol, it is better to choose fabric in light colors, with a light floral print.
To make a fabric Easter bunny with your own hands, the pattern is downloaded on the Internet. If you follow the print media, many craft magazines are posting Easter bunny charts on the eve of the holiday. Among all the variety, you need to choose the model that you like the most.
An Easter bunny made of fabric will look original if you use materials in contrasting colors. For example, make the animal itself gray, and the ears pink or white.
In addition to the material, you will need:
- scissors;
- sewing thread with a needle;
- filler (cotton wool, synthetic winterizer).
To make an Easter bunny with your own hands, cut out a pattern along the marking lines, apply it to the fabric and cut out 2 pieces of each part.
Apply all paired parts to each other with the right side and sew the edges, leaving a small hole for turning the sewn product inside out. Also through this hole, padding is made with padding polyester. After filling, the edges are sewn together. According to this principle, the hare's legs, ears, head, body are sewn separately. The whole rabbit is assembled from the finished parts.
To give the ears and paws realism and volume, you can make 2 longitudinal stitches in the center of the ear on a sewing machine and also start several stitches on the paws, thus making fingers.
The eyes and nose of a hare can be made from buttons or beads, but if you chose a tilde Easter bunny, then small knot eyes are a characteristic feature of it. In addition, for such a hare, it is imperative to think over a cute spring wardrobe, otherwise it will turn out to be an ordinary Easter bunny with your own hands from fabric, but not an analogue of Tilda's design creation.
Easter bunny made of paper
If you are planning to prepare for the bright Easter holiday with your children, the easiest way is to make an Easter bunny out of paper. For example, a paper egg holder can be made very quickly.
The easter bunny template can be downloaded from the Internet, printed on paper and cut out. If this is not possible, you can draw it yourself and decorate it with pencils with your child.
Such a hare consists of 2 parts. The first one looks like a rabbit sitting on its paws, here you can show your imagination and draw it with any expression of the muzzle.
The second piece is a long and wide strip. It is cut and glued into a hollow cylinder. The diameter of the cylinder must be large enough to accommodate the egg. The finished piece can be decorated to make it look like a hare belly or an egg basket.
The painted cylinder is glued to the middle of the first part. After drying, you can insert an Easter egg into this cylinder, it will look as if a bunny is holding it in its paws or in a basket.
Easter bunny made of threads
Any needlewoman knows how pompons are made from threads to decorate hats and various crafts. You can also make a soft and original Easter bunny out of them.
To work you will need:
- yarn;
- cardboard;
- scissors;
- felt for the ears;
- beads for the nose and eyes;
- needle with thread.
2 rings of the required size are cut out of cardboard for making pom-poms.1 large pompom is needed for the body, 1 medium - for the head, 2 small - for the legs, 1 small - for the tail.
Pompons are made according to the standard scheme: cardboard rings are connected in pairs and wrapped with thread. Next, the wound thread is cut along the edge of the cardboard, a thread is inserted between the rings and ties all the wound and cut threads in the middle. Finished pom-poms are connected with hot glue. Ears are cut out of felt and glued to the head. Eyes and a nose also sit on the glue.
You can make the hare consist of one pompom, and the cardboard rings used to make it are an extension of the body. In this case, you need to draw a cardboard blank in the form of a ring with the head and legs of a hare. After cutting the yarn, the cardboard is not removed, but remains part of the Easter decoration.
An Easter bunny can also be crocheted from threads. The diagrams are in handicraft magazines and on the corresponding sites. Knitting them is simple and quick, since almost the entire product consists of single crochets, only in some places of the scheme you need to increase and decrease the width to give the product volume. The eyes and nose in a knitted rabbit can be embroidered with contrasting threads.
Easter bunny made of felt
This material is easy to work with and is sold in any fabric store. Buy the required piece, the main thing is not to choose material with a thickness of more than 1 mm, it will not take shape well.
You can draw an Easter bunny pattern yourself, since felt products are usually not particularly complex and consist of only 2 parts.
The cut out parts can not only be sewn together, but also glued together with colorless glue. A synthetic winterizer is stuffed inside the hare, and the remaining edge is sealed completely. The eyes and nose can be made with knots, sequins or an appliqué made of felt in a contrasting color.
How to make an Easter bunny - watch the video:
The Easter bunny is not just a craft that you will make together with your household, but a unique decoration for your home for the bright holiday of Easter. He will acquaint you with the traditions of other countries, help you show your imagination and reveal new talents in yourself, and unite your family.
