Teach your children to be green! Every item we keep out of a landfill takes us a step closer to environmental sustainability. The following recycling activities for kids will provide hours of fun and an opportunity to make a difference. Create items for play or holiday gift giving with the clever ideas in these books and websites. Our family has had a lot of fun with competitive paper airplane design, and I’ll bet yours will, too!
If you have kids, you probably have stacks of old school papers. While you’ll want to save the A+ tests and artwork, you’ll have lots left over for crafts. This clever book shows how to fold scrap paper into aerodynamic designs that really fly.
What You Need: Used standard size sheets of paper (8 ½ x 11 inches).
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Are you looking for an activity for your child’s next birthday party? Why not have the kids make suncatchers out of the old CDs and DVDs that are gathering dust in your family room. Sparkly and fun, these re-purposed discs are sure to be a hit!
What You Need: Unwanted CDs or DVDs, craft glue, glitter, aluminum foil, thread.
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Reclaim some cans and create unique action figure robots. Let your kids’ imaginations run wild as they empower their robots with pipe cleaner super-sensors and googley-eyed x-ray vision.
What You Need: Empty cans with no sharp edges; craft glue, or hot glue with adult supervision; nuts, bolts, bottle caps, pipe cleaners or similar accessories.
An old tee shirt makes a great throw pillow. Sew on some denim patches from an old pair of jeans for a decorative touch. The possibilities are endless when you start with simple instructions like the ones from the folks at education.com.
What You Need: Tee shirt, needle or sewing machine, thread, pins, cotton stuffing.
Paper towel and toilet tissue tubes are one of the most readily available and useful craft items. Recycle them into a marble run with this idea from education.com, and spark the imagination of a budding physicist!
What You Need: 4 empty cardboard paper towel rolls, scissors, ruler, pen, stickers, markers, crayons, sturdy tape, marbles, small toys, blocks.
The next time you empty a bottle of dish detergent, save it to make this cute doll from education.com. I think it’s fun to do a seasonal version of grouped dolls, like a Christmas choir, or witches for Halloween. Give this one your own special spin!
What You Need: Empty plastic bottle, tissue paper, masking tape, craft glue, yarn, fabric scraps, felt, markers, tempera paint.
Go out to the shed and grab a stack of old newspapers and magazines to make the fun ideas in Cool Crafts with Newspapers, Magazines and Junk Mail: Green Projects for Resourceful Kids by Jenn Jones. Save loads on giftwrap when you and the kids make your own!
What You Need:Newspapers, magazines or catalogs; scissors, pencil, ruler, craft glue, decoupage, craft paint, small paint brushes.
The people at Kidspot have a great use for those old bits of crayon we all have around the house – homemade candles! Fun for the holidays, these candles make charming teacher gifts.
What You Need: Crayons, milk cartons, paraffin wax, scissors, ice cubes, string.
When my son was little, we got a new refrigerator and he and his best buddy spent the entire day in their “fort.” I watched them from a lounge chair, remembering my Barbie “dreamhouse,” constructed from the box my father’s overcoat had come in. What is it about a box that brings out the creative genius in a child? The Paper Playhouse: Awesome Art Projects for Kids Using Paper, Boxes and Books by Katrina Rodabaugh is bound to inspire you to find out.
What You Need: Cardboard boxes; markers, crayons or paint; wallpaper, fabric scraps or construction paper; stickers, gems or yarn; scissors, ruler, pencil, craft glue, sturdy tape.
Have some fun when the milk is done. Follow these Kidspot instructions to make this balloon-powered vehicle go!
What You Need: 1 empty ½ pint milk or juice carton, 4 milk or juice carton caps, masking or electrical tape, 1 bamboo skewer, 1 metal skewer, 1 plastic drinking straw, 1 balloon, scissors.
Check out the great variety of projects for children with the rememberstuff.me Activity Search, and make a recycled and re-purposed craft with your family!
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Save Your Child's Artwork Online!
Are you finding it tough to find a place to keep all your child's artwork? Feel guilty just throwing it away? You can use use Remember Stuff to save pictures of those creations. Just snap a pic with your phone and it is saved forever without cluttering your house or your digital photo albums.
In addition you can save your kids favorite quotes, create chores lists, and more!
