If you have trouble keeping up with the demand for art and craft materials for the creative youngsters in your home, you should consider crafts made from recycled items for the next batch of projects. This is a solution that has dual benefit, keeping the kids happily crafting while using items that would otherwise end up in the local landfill. You can't go wrong with environmentally-friendly creative fun!
Supplies For Crafts Made From Recycled Items
Tin Cans
Old vegetable cans can be given new life with a bit of creativity, making great decorative storage containers for any number of items. With a bit of wrapping paper saved from that last holiday celebration or some wallpaper scraps, a few bits of ribbon, and some glue, your children could have a handy place to keep those art supplies or small toys organized. Or, paint them with a textured sponge for a faux leather look to give some organization to Dad's work bench or desk. A coffee can easily becomes a musical instrument with a bit of imagination, such as a Native American or African drum. With some animal stickers and a bit of paint or colored paper, these motifs are easy enough to create. The plastic lid makes a great drumming surface.
Milk Cartons
The humble milk carton can be quite a score for the creative child, easy to transform into any number of fascinating new forms. A one season bird house can be constructed with one of these paper cartons, with just the use of a pair of scissors to create a doorway and Popsicle stick or dowel for a perch. Decorating can be done with a variety of glued on items, or just simply with paint. Milk cartons can also become great decorative planters for the little gardener in the making, With paper, fabric scraps, acrylic paints, a pair of scissors, and some glue, those cartons can become home to some starter plants for the youngsters to nurture-two projects in one.
Egg Cartons
An egg carton can be given a new identity with a bit of a decorative touch, easily made into a great tray for the dresser top, organizing such items as jewelry items or coins. A simple egg carton can become a collection of animals, insects, and creatures of all kinds with the wonderful ideas to be found in craft books and on crafting websites.
Jars
Those pickle, baby food, and mayonnaise jars need not fill the trash cans with the imaginative skills of children at work. These can be decorated with decoupage, using pretty pictures cut from magazines and a coat of shellac to create unique storage containers for the pantry or kitchen counter.
With a bit of scrap fabric and some lace, a condiment jar can become the home of fragrant potpourri to freshen any room, or a sewing kit with a stuffed pillow top that doubles as a pincushion.
With glitter, waterproof glue, and a few plastic figurines, a homemade snow globe is easily made from a recycled jar. Simply glue your figures to the lid, add glitter and water to the jar, seal it up and shake.
Newspapers and Magazines
What better way to recycle those piles of old newspapers and magazines than a good old fashioned paper mache project? With paper cut into strips and a homemade paste of flour and water, most any form can be sculpted with this technique. Add some paint and other decorations, and that trash has turned into a treasured masterpiece.
Pictures cut out of old magazines can be the source of a great collage, creating themed artwork for your child's bedroom wall. With a large poster board, glue, scissors and a stack of old reading material that has been saved from the trash heap, your child can make any number of unique and creative designs.
Creative Fun
Crafts made from recycled materials can be great fun, putting the imagination to work in new and different ways. So many of those items sent off to the trash bin every day have the potential to spark the interest and artistic talent of those smallest family members. In addition, you certainly can't beat the price for hours of family fun!
