An Easter basket full of surprises

You can use the basket to collect eggs in an Easter egg hunt.

Weave your own Easter basket and fill it with some Easter surprises. These mini baskets also work as name places at the dinner table. Make a bunch for you and your family, add name tags and place them around the table on Easter Sunday. It’s best to use strong card for this as the basket will hold more but you can practise on sheets of paper too.

To weave a mini basket you will need sheets of coloured card size A4, scissors, ruler, pencil and glue stick.

Select a colour and turn the sheet of card to the side. Cut four strips from the card measuring 1.5 inches wide each. Cut another four strips from a sheet of card of a different colour. Line four strips side by side, then take another strip and weave it over and under the other strips. Secure in place with a glue stick. Continue with the remaining strips, alternating the weaves. Fold the strips to form the walls.

Weaving

Take another sheet of card facing it length ways, and cut a long strip from it measuring 1.5 inches. Repeat until you have three strips all of equal widths and lengths. Start weaving the walls. Take one of the strips and weave it over and under one side of the wall, pressing it towards the base. Secure with glue along the way. Repeat with the remaining two strips. Cut another long strip from a third colour. Stick one end on the inside of the basket and the other end on the opposite side. This will be the basket handle.

Leave the glue to dry, then line the basket with coloured tissue paper and fill with mini eggs wrapped in foil and some Easter chicks. You can make the basket all one colour if you wish. Use the mini baskets for other purposes too. They can be used to hold cupcakes at an Easter bake sale, or you can place an egg cup inside filled with spring flowers such as crocuses, grape hyacinths and tiny daffodils.

Have a go at making the baskets on a larger scale. You will need a larger sheet of card and will have to increase the width of the weaving strips to three inches. Use the large basket to collect eggs in an Easter egg hunt.