Homemade Piggy Banks

I've been wanting to teach my children about the value of money and how hard Daddy has to work to earn money to buy the toys, clothes, food, etc that they have. They were starting to get to a point where they expected to get toys when we went into a store or thought if they pointed something out to us in a magazine they would get it. So we've been explained the concept of saving money and working for money. I thought it would be a great learning lesson as well as a fun craft to make homemade piggy banks. I came across a few ideas that inspired this project but, as I normally do, I changed a few things and made it my own. :-) 

Materials (These are per piggy bank; I made four):

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors

Knife

Empty & Clean mayo jar, peanut butter jar, etc.

Paint (White and then the color you want to paint your bank)

Paint Brushes

2 White Decorative Rocks

1 egg carton

1 cut up newpaper 

Coarse Sandpaper

1 part Elmer's white glue/1part Water mixed (I used the whole bottle since I was making four banks)

After washing and drying your jars, you will need to cut out the coin  hole. DO NOT allow children to do this. An adult will need to do this part and even then you will need to be very cautious (I stabbed myself doing this step so I speak from experience!) Using a sharp knife cut two vertical lines in the jar. Space them the width of two nickels apart and make them just a bit longer than the width of a quarter. This will ensure the coins fit through with ease. Then using the scissors, cut the space connecting the two lines/cuts to make a rectangular opening. Next you want to use the sandpaper to sand down the plastic edges around the whole to make sure there are not any sharp edges around the coin hole. 

Next mix the water and Elmer's glue together and pour into a plate. Dip the strips of newspaper into the glue mixture and scrape off excess glue with fingers. Apply the newspaper to the jar. Cover every part of the jar except the threads where the lid screws on. 

I let the kids help with this part and they had a blast.

 

 Next set the jar up on the rim to dry.  While the jars were drying I let the kids paint their lids.

 

 Then cut the egg carton into sections. You will need 6 "egg cups" per bank. 

 Using your hot glue gun, attach the "ears" to the top of the bank. Remember that the "top" is with the coin hold facing upward.

 Next attach the four legs.

 When cutting your egg cups if you cut the square corners off the cup will glue easier to the surface of the bank. On the left the two have the corners cut. On the right the cup still has the squared corners.

 Then apply newspaper over top of the egg carton cups.

 Once the banks have dried, paint them white to "prime" them. Allow them to dry.

 Then you can paint the banks whatever color you like. My kids picked out their colors. (Brenden; blue, Joshua; green, Trinity; purple). We had a guest over when we made these and she picked out the colors she wanted and asked me to finish it for her when she had to go home. :-) I will eventually make Joey a red one. :-) 

 Here are the decorative glass rocks I used for the eyes...

 Just glue them on above the lid...

 Then paint black circles on them to create the pupils of the eyes.

 You can then paint black stripes down the lid for the nose/snout. Make sure that you screw on the lid FIRST then paint the black lines to ensure that the lines are vertical.

 I wrote the kids names on the back/butt of the pig.

You may have to use scissors to "reopen" any area where the newspaper covered the coin hole.

That's it!! :-) I'm going to make a list of chores my kids will be allowed to do to earn money to put in their piggy banks to save up to buy things they want. :-) 

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