Oscar the Grouch Easter Egg

When I was making my panda Easter egg, I set it on top of a cardboard tube so it wouldn’t roll off the table. The shape reminded me of Oscar the Grouch in his garbage can. I’m a big fan of Sesame Street, so this was a really fun egg to decorate. Affiliate links below. 

Oscar the Grouch Easter Egg

Materials:

• acrylic paint (green, red, grey)
• white egg (raw, hardboiled, or empty)
• cardboard tube
• chipboard
• scissors
• paint pens
• black ink pad
• craft glue

Steps: 

Draw Oscar's eyes on the egg. Paint the egg green, leaving the eyes white. (I didn't do this and had to put multiple coats of white paint over the green. Avoid that problem.) 

Cut a circle out of chipboard to make Oscar's trash can lid. Paint the lid and the cardboard tube grey. 

Use a black paint pen to draw Oscar's mouth and pupils. Use a brown paint pen to make his eyebrows. Use acrylic paint to add a tongue on the mouth. 

With a pencil, draw vertical lines on the trash can. Draw lines on the lid so that it looks like a cut pizza. Add a line down the center of Oscar's tongue. 

Rub a little bit of black ink onto a tissue or cotton ball. Rub it randomly on the trash can and lid so that it looks scuffed up. 

Place Oscar in his garbage can, then glue the lid to the back of his head. 

Paper Plate Sesame Street: Count von Count

When I design kids crafts, my goal is to create something that fills a gap. For example, it is easy to find craft tutorials for certain Sesame Street characters, while others are completely missing. At Fun Family Crafts, we have 16 Cookie Monster crafts, 9 Elmo projects, 5 ideas for Big Bird, 3 for Oscar the Grouch, and 3 for Bert and Ernie, but none for the Count. He's #6 on my list of the Top Ten Sesame Street Characters, so he definitely deserves at least one project tutorial. ("ONE craft tutorial! Ah-Ah-Ah!") 

Presenting, the paper plate version of Count von Count! Affiliate links below. 

Paper Plate Count von Count

Materials: 

• paper plates
• scissors
• white cardstock
• acrylic paint (Wisteria, black, and red)
• craft glue
• black Sharpie
• silver cardstock
• black faux fur

Steps: 

Start by cutting the shapes you will need from the white cardstock. These include two round outer eyes, two half-circle inner eyes, two leaf-shaped bat ears, two rounded fangs, and a long nose, as shown below. Cut a notch from the bottom of the paper plate to make the Count's cleft chin. 

Paint the paper plate, outer eyes, ears, and nose with Wisteria paint. The color is perfect right out of the bottle. When the paint is dry, use black paint to paint the Count's hair and his mouth. Paint a red tongue in the mouth. 

Glue the ears, inner and outer eyes, nose, and fangs to the Count's head. Use a black Sharpie to give him eyeliner along his top lids, extending down slightly onto the plate. Add pupils to the eyes. Then draw pointy eyebrows and color them in. 

Cut or punch a circle from the silver cardstock, then cut out the center to leave a very narrow ring.  

Glue the monocle onto the Count's left eye, tucking it underneath his nose. Cut a triangle of faux fur for his beard, then glue it in place. 

The Count seems like a natural choice for a young child's birthday party. It would be a really fun cake to make, although I did enjoy making Cookie Monster back in the day. Maybe I'll make the Count for Trevor's 17th birthday next June. 

Sesame Street Characters Ranked (and a Cardboard Tube Guy Smiley)

Today is the 51st anniversary of Sesame Street. I grew up watching it and introduced it to Trevor when he was young, but he was never very interested. He didn't start enjoying TV until well past the age where he'd watch Sesame Street. 

Recently, The Wrap posted their list of the Sesame Street characters ranked from Worst to Best. I completely disagree with their rankings and thus am compelled to present my own. Since I haven't watched Sesame Street regularly since 1975 when I was three, I'm not familiar enough with some of the newer characters to include them. Telly was introduced when I was seven and Elmo when I was eight, so while I know the characters somewhat, I have no childhood attachment to them. I've never seen an episode with Julia, Abby Cadabby, Zoe, Rosita, or Karli. 

I do, however, have many fond memories of Sherlock Hemlock and another character not on their list, Guy Smiley. Affiliate links below. 

Cardboard Tube Guy Smiley

Materials:

• cardboard tube
• Folk Art paint (Medium Yellow and Terra Cotta)
• microtip scissors
• felt (black, white, blue, red, yellow)
• googly eyes
• craft glue

Steps: 

Mix approximately 3 parts Medium Yellow with 1 part Terra Cotta to make a mustard color. Paint the cardboard tube and let it dry completely. 

Cut eyebrows and a mouth from black felt. Then, make the hair. I recommend two pieces so that there is a visible part line. I cut the smaller portion, but tore the larger portion in order to make it look a bit more than hair. The cheaper the felt, the easier it is to tear. Use the scissors to snip a tiny bit, then put hard. Feel free to cut both pieces, particularly if you have higher quality felt that doesn't want to tear. 

Cut two ears and a nose from yellow. Then cut four tiny circles for the buttons on Guy's blazer. This is where microtip scissors really make a difference. 

Cut a scoop neck into a rectangle of white felt. Cut a gumdrop-shaped piece of red felt for his tie, then two large triangles of blue for his blazer. 

When all the pieces are cut, you're ready to glue them into place. Start with the mouth; it goes in the center of the tube. Then add the nose, just above the mouth. The eyes go on either side of the nose, with the eyebrows above them. The ears are even with the nose. Glue the smaller piece of hair down first, then layer the larger piece over it. Next, glue the shirt and tie in place. Then layer the two blue triangles so that the blazer covers the shirt. Finally, add the buttons to the blazer. 

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Back to my rankings. I am going to include the characters who appeared on the 2019 postage stamps honoring the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street, minus the ones created after my early childhood. That leaves 10, a very good number for a countdown.  

10) Herry Monster

Herry's personality was basically that he was strong, which is not even really a personality trait. There aren't any skits that stand out to me as my favorite starring Herry Monster. 

9) Snuffleupagus

Even at three, I was annoyed that Snuffy couldn't do Big Bird a favor and JUST ONCE stay around for someone else to see him. I have vague memories of skits with Snuffy's parents, but ultimately he's just Big Bird's (alleged) imaginary friend and doesn't stand alone, any more than Oscar's pet worm. 

8) Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley cracks me up. I love how he comes out of nowhere to host a game show and that the prizes are completely ridiculous. I linked one of my favorites above, but here's a whole Guy Smiley playlist. 

7) Grover

Grover is awesome. My favorite Grover skits are him as a waiter. And I strongly believe every child should grow up with The Monster at the End of This Book. 

6) The Count

The Count (real name: Count Von Count) is a one-trick pony, but I still love him. This is classic Count, with bonus Kermit. 

5) Big Bird

There's something wrong with you if you don't like Big Bird. It turns out that ranking Sesame Street characters is HARD, because they're all so good. I agonized about this, but Big Bird comes in at #5.

4) Cookie Monster

I love cookies and I love Cookie Monster. Always have, always will. I chose Cookie Monster as the theme for Trevor's 2nd birthday. Even though Trevor wasn't really into Sesame Street, he was (and is) really into cookies. 

3) Oscar the Grouch

My favorite thing about Oscar is that he lives in a trashcan. He says what's on his mind unapologetically. Rather than share a classic clip, here's one that's very timely. I can SO relate to Oscar!

2) Ernie

Ernie is hilarious. Ernie annoying Bert is even more hilarious. I love his laugh. The Bert and Ernie skits were my favorites when I was a kid. I still laugh about Ernie's beard. 

1) Bert

Bert is the straight man for Ernie's jokes, but his boring personality is hilarious on his own. And his laugh! I love Bert. Pigeon jokes are incredible.