Things to Make - 27 Easy Projects From the Recycling Bin

We use the recycling bin a lot, mainly because it's cheap and it's there.

Here's a list of some of the things it has helped us create. What have you made from recycling bin lately?



Milk Cartons
1. Rocketships - Wrap a milk carton in construction paper, fold in the top, add rocket wings and Barbie is ready for the moon.
2. Cradleboards (backpacks to carry dolls in) - An old milk carton + a belt or ribbon = a backpack for carrying dolls. Easy peasy.



Toilet Paper and Paper Toll Rolls
3. Story sticks - The Pima Indians of Arizona kept records of things that had happened in their lives on story sticks, so we drew pictures on flattened paper toll rolls to tell our own stories.
4. Doll slides - All you need is a toilet paper roll and a paper plate for Polly Pocket to have some fun.
5. Doll castles - Once Polly Pocket tires of her slide, she can relax in a beautiful castle.
6. Instruments - Make some noise, just add beans and seal the ends of a paper toll tube. Now you're ready to rock.



Large Cardboard Boxes
7. Castle - A large painted box can become almost anything with a little imagination. Why not give your children a kingdom to reign over?
8. Boat - Add a broom with a construction paper flag on top so everyone will know from where you sail.
9. Posters - Just cut up the cardboard into large pieces and decorate. Now hang on the wall and you have some art.



Small Cardboard Boxes or Bowls
10. Decoupage bowls - A great use for old shoe boxes or produce bowls.
11. Cardboard boats - Use a straw with a construction paper flag to make a sail. Blue construction paper makes great water. Just don't put in real water.
12. A Pueblo Indian house - A great way to learn about American Indians and reuse small old boxes.



Grocery Store Paper Bags
13. Purses - Every girl needs some bling in her life.
14. Mail carrier bags - To make this more fun use stickers as stamps and put some stationary out on the table. Encourage kids to write and deliver notes to each other.



Plastic 2L Bottle
15. A homemade lava lamp - Oil, water, and alka- seltzer = fun.



Packaging Paper
16. Tissue paper tie-dye - All you need are liquid watercolors or food coloring and rubber bands to create beautiful (though fragile) tapestries.
17. Butcher paper town - Just smooth out the brown packaging paper that comes in Amazon boxes and draw a town. Add various toys and lego buildings to decorate. Play.



Old Magazines
18. Necklace Beads - All you need are old magazines, glue, and cord to make a beautiful necklace.
19. Decoupage bowls - Also included as #10. A great way to use up old magazines, stickers, and other random scraps of paper. And now you have a place to store knick knacks too.



Gently Used Construction Paper (we often use new construction paper, but if you have some that is slightly used or cut, all these projects would still work)
20. 3D Pictures - Because everything is better in 3D.
21. Sunprints - Leave construction paper in the sun for a day or so with objects on top and check out all of the pretty patterns that result.
22. Ice cream cones - Circles and triangles glued together = delicious fake food.
23. Handprint puppets - Use your imagination and add some popsicle sticks. Now put on a show.
24. Toddler Designed Hidden Pictures (a fun game for older kids to play after a toddler has already doodled on the paper) - This is one of our favorite games to play with T's old "art".
25. Teepees & headbands - A great craft for Thanksgiving. Add a little paint and some homemade paper dolls and you have a whole activity set ready to go.



Newspaper
26. Paper Mache Bowls - Add some homemade "paste" (flour, salt, and water) to newspaper, wait until dry and paint - awesomeness.
27. Paper doll chains - Basically an instant toy.

Things to Make - Magazine Bead Necklaces

This project is from Mary Ann Kohl's book, Good Earth Art: Environmental Art for Kids . I loved it because it was so so easy and the girls got really into it, spending almost an hour rolling beads.

Here's the scoop:

1. On a magazine page or newspaper, at the top of the page, mark off 1 inch intervals with a ruler.

2. On the other side of the page, mark off 1 inch intervals beginning at 1/2 inch.

3. Connect the lines to make triangles (see my picture above for illustration). Long skinny triangles will form.

4. Cut out the triangles.

5. Wind the wide end of the triangle around something skinny - we used kabob skewers but you could also use toothpicks or maybe even a twig.

6. Place glue on the rest of the triangle and roll tightly.

7. Let dry then lace on cord or string.

8. Wear as a beautiful necklace or bracelet.

Easy peasy.





The kids actually wear these. Even 6.5 year old F, who scorns most of my ideas regarding fashion.



T couldn't master the rolling of the paper, so I let him use scissors (his favorite new "toy") to cut up the rest of the magazine.

Things to Make - Story Sticks

This summer most of our craft projects have been pretty simple, as I'm somewhat exhausted from having all three kids home all day. Plus, T's becoming an erratic napper (yes, I know this is my fault) so I'm never sure if he'll be napping while we create and it isn't easy to come up with great ideas that work for all three ages (5, 4, and 2).

All this being said, a few weeks ago the girls and I made story sticks while T napped and everyone had a blast. We learned about story sticks while perusing my favorite craft book - More Than Moccasins: A Kid's Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life (A Kid's Guide series). According to the book the Pima Indians of Arizona "kept records of things that had happened in their lives on story sticks." The book recommended drawing pictures on tongue depressors but we didn't have any so we used flattened paper towel rolls instead. And I let the girls decide whether or not to base their stories on real events.

P made two sticks, one told a story involving instruments and mountains and princesses (there's always a princess). For her second stick, P used stickers to tell a long meandering story of a dragon/princess/castle/etc. F, on the other hand, drew a simple but beautiful story of a girl who loved to dance. On one side of the stick she drew pictures of the girl growing up and on the opposite side she drew the dance routine that the girl completed for her big recital.

All in all a fun, easy project that's toddler-friendly. So, had he been awake, T could have participated too.



OTHER STORYTELLING IDEAS:

*I LOVE Under the Pecan Tree's story magnet idea. We really need some of these.

*I posted this before but Quirky Mama has a great list of different storytelling activities to do with your children.

*We like using story cards and bare books.

OTHER USES FOR CARDBOARD TUBES:

*A marble run - love this!!

*Our cardboard tube instruments (this post has a long list of other tube ideas too).

*Our post on making doll slides and castles.

*A long snake.

Things to Make - Cardboard Tube Instruments (From the Recycling Bin)

(The photos above exemplify why we chose to buy our kitchen table at Ikea.)

Last week a friend came over with her daughters and I thought the kids would have fun making cardboard tube instruments (yes, I'm in love with the recycling bin lately). My hope was that they would all choose different instruments and we could have a band, but that didn't quite work out as all the kids wanted shakers (why no bass bogs or kazoos?). Unfortunately for the kids the shaker had the least chance of long-term success (i.e. it fell apart). Oh well, the shakers' early demise was probably a good thing as parents only want to hear instruments for a set amount of time. Plus, they lasted long enough for us all to parade around the block and, as a parent, that's about how long I wanted them to last.

Here's the scoop:

For the shakers you'll need: cardboard tubes (large or small), paints or markers, beans or popcorn, tinfoil, and rubber bands.

1. First decorate the tube (paint it, color it, glue things to it, etc.) - this is really the highlight of the project.

2. Let tubes dry.

3. Cover one end of the tube with aluminum foil (we rubber banded it on).

4. Pour popcorn seeds into tube (or beans or anything else noisy).

5. Cover other end of tube with aluminum foil.

6. SHAKE!!!

In retrospect, we probably could have used more sturdy tubes (maybe a pringles can? but then I'd have to buy pringles. any other ideas?) or enclosed the popcorn with something more sturdy than aluminum foil and rubber bands, I've seen other people use thick masking tape and construction paper, which seems to work well.

(For other instruments: Bass Bog - make cuts in each end of the tube and insert a rubber band, pluck; Kazoo - cover one end with wax paper either using glue or a rubber band, blow). All ideas came from this book - Look What You Can Make With Dozens of Household Items!: Over 500 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of More Ideas!).

OTHER CARDBOARD TUBE PROJECTS FROM AROUND THE WEB:

*We built doll slides and castles. Click here to see.

*These pillow boxes are so pretty.

*Use them for seed planting - what a great spring project.

*Adorable mini-princess crowns from Lilla a.

*I love these marionette puppets and these mini-lanterns.

*Heart-shaped stamps seem easy enough.

*Or why not just paint and cut them and make a sculpture or collage?

*And for the truly motivated - add some boxes and craft a Tangled tower, this is seriously beautiful.

What about everyone else? Any great ideas for crafting with cardboard tubes?





The random cat in the window made F's day. She said, "I really hoped that after people heard our traveling band they'd come outside and listen. I'm so glad that cat likes our music."

Things to Make - Doll Slides & Castles (from the Recycling Bin)

A few weekends ago, F had a fever and my husband was out of town, so I spent the weekend homebound with the kids. In order to move the day along I asked the girls' to peruse Look What You Can Make With Dozens of Household Items!: Over 500 Pictured Crafts and Dozens of More Ideas! and find some projects, preferably with cardboard rolls as I've been hoarding these lately (so many project uses). Regarding our newest craft book, on one hand, I love the plethora of projects described (there are thousands, all of which require very few materials). However, the book includes photographs of the finished projects, which can be nervewracking with kids because they want their results to look as good as the books' results and, in my experience, unless MAJOR parental intervention occurs such perfection rarely results. Luckily, P and F picked two relatively simple projects - a slide for dolls and a "castle".

THE SLIDE:
The slide proved super easy to make. All we needed was an old paper towel roll, a paper plate, and some scrap cardboard to glue the paper towel roll onto. I cut the plate into a spiral and, voila, a doll slide. The girls loved their slides as is but I really wanted to stretch out the afternoon, so I asked F & P to paint them. Unfortunately, once the projects dried, F complained that the paint made the slide too "bumpy" for princesses. Oh well, she had a fever, which means, in her eyes, I couldn't really get anything right.


(The prepainting pics on the "smooth" slide)

THE CASTLE:
Basically we just painted rolls of different sizes (T loved this part) and once they dried the girls drew in windows and doors for a castle-tower effect. We made roofs by tracing circles onto construction paper and then taping them together teepee style. I actually think the castle came out pretty cute. Plus, all three kids actively participated, which made me happy (well, until clean up started).