We store up our cardboard egg cartons during the winter to use in the spring for starting seeds for our garden. However, a few years ago, we were given some little peat pots from a friend, leaving quite a few extra egg cartons lying around. And around here, if anything lays around for too long, it will be used in a craft of some sort!

The first craft an egg carton found its way into was… this AWESOME Egg Carton Helicopter!

We enjoyed making and playing with this helicopter so much that when we started to write a Family Unit Study about transportation, I knew we had to include it.

So, get ready for a blast from the past with little Sam and his egg carton helicopter, then head on over to the shop to check out the Let’s Go! Transportation Family Unit Study!

How to Make a Paper Helicopter

There is a neat and simple science activity for kids that shows (in a very simplified version) how a helicopter propeller spins. You simply cut a long rectangle of paper, cut it halfway down the middle long ways, and attach a paper clip to the bottom. Drop it, and it spins like crazy!

This is a fun science activity in itself, truthfully.

My Sam had a lot of fun dropping the paper helicopters and watching them spin. We played around with them, making shorter arms, thicker arms, little ones, and big ones, to see how changing the shape of the helicopter changed the spin.

Then we decided to kick it up a notch…

With egg cartons on the brain, it didn’t take me long to realize that two egg holders stuck together would look an awful lot like a helicopter. And so…

How to Make an Egg Carton Helicopter

First, make a paper helicopter, just like the one outlined above. We used a piece of 8.5 x 11 paper and cut an approximate one-inch strip off of the long (11-inch) side. Next, I cut down the middle halfway. Finally, I trimmed the tail so the final shape looks like a Y.

Next, we painted and decorated two cardboard egg carton cups, and I cut a slit in the top of each one.

Finally, I put the tail of the paper helicopter through one egg carton cup, and then through the second, creating a helicopter-ish (sort of… kind of) shape. I secured the tail to the bottom egg carton cup with a tiny piece of tape.

The trick with this egg carton helicopter is figuring out the size of paper helicopter you need for the weight of the egg carton. I held up all of the egg carton containers we had and chose the lightest. You could also play with using construction paper for the paper helicopter part to make the propeller a bit stronger, if need be. You could just use a single egg carton to reduce the weight considerably. 

Psst. A little note from present-day me: The Let’s Go! Transportation Family Unit Study includes step-by-step instructions and a template that works perfectly with a standard cardboard egg carton cup. Okay, carry on…

Now it’s time for the fun part! Perch your child on top of a high ledge—the higher, the better (I’m kidding!)—and let them play! My little guy, who just so happened to be a tiger today, had a great time making his helicopter but an even better time playing with it.

He dropped it from high spots and low spots, threw it far, and thew it high—learning all the while.

This egg carton helicopter was remarkably sturdy! It held up to everything thrown its way …or rather, everything it was thrown at.

A great way to reuse before you recycle!

If your little one enjoyed making and playing with their egg carton helicopter, they’re going to LOVE the Let’s Go! Transportation Family Unit Study! You can see a sample and get your copy at the link below:

Let’s Go! Transportation Family Unit Study

https://shop.howweelearn.com/products/family-unit-study-lets-go-transportation

Thank you so much for reading, friends. I hope you are having a wonderful week!

xo
Sarah