Mandarin Easter Bunny Craft For Kids

I have always loved Easter ever since I was little. I have such fond memories of the giant table at my grandma’s that we would sit at with my extended family after church to have a huge brunch together and we would get to sit at the “kids’ table,” which was usually just one end of the big table where they put all the cousins together. I thought this year would be a fun time to make an edible Easter decoration for a kids’ table and try it out on our toddler to see if she approves. Since I love seeing all the different animals that people make with fruits and veggies, we partnered with Wonderful Halos to make a bunny made from a mandarin. I thought it would be the perfect addition to a kids’ table since they are sweet, seedless, and easy to peel. And they are packed with vitamin C, so it would be a good balance for whatever other treats the kids get in their baskets that morning.

Supplies:
–Wonderful Halos mandarins
-toothpicks (or wooden coffee stirring sticks or popsicle sticks for younger kids)
-3″ pieces of thin wire (optional)
-hot glue gun
-small pink and white pom poms
-white embroidery thread
-pink and white felt
-fabric scissors

Start by cutting out your bunny ears from your felt. I cut white petal shapes (pretend you’re cutting a daisy petal and it should look about right) that was about 3″ tall and a pink smaller petal to be the inside of the ear. You’ll need two of each color for each bunny. Now, for the ears you can either use toothpicks or wire to attach your ears to the mandarin, but if you want to bend your ears around, you’ll want to use the wire.

Use your hot glue to attach your toothpick or wire to the underside of the pink felt and let at least 1″ of the toothpick/wire hang off the bottom of the ear. Glue the pink ear to the larger white ear and you should have one complete ear with the toothpick/wire sandwiched between the layers and hanging out the bottom. Repeat to assemble all your ears.

For the nose and whiskers, cut a long piece of embroidery thread and fold it over twice so you have four strands the same length. Cut the ends and tie the strands to a toothpick about 1/4″ away from the edge. Hot glue a pink pom pom onto the end of the toothpick and insert your toothpick into the front of your mandarin. Trim your whiskers as needed. If you want a tail as well, you can either repeat the process of gluing a white pom pom onto the end of a toothpick and inserting it into the back of the mandarin, or, if your nose/whisker toothpick is too long and comes through the back side of the mandarin, you can simply glue the white pom pom on the part that is sticking out the back. Once you have your ears, nose, and tail, your little bunnies are done!

How adorable! When it comes time to eat, just pull out the bunny pieces, peel, and eat! Now, as a side note, if your kid is a little too young for you to feel comfortable with a piece of wire or toothpick within their reach, then you can still do the same thing but use a wooden coffee stirring stick or popsicle stick instead to replace the toothpick/wire as those sticks are wider and the edges are rounded rather than pointed. It may be a tiny bit harder to push those into the mandarin, but should still work just the same. I know I would be delighted as a kid to see one of these on my childhood Easter table, so I hope these delight your little ones too! xo. Laura