Create Craft
Best crafts made out of recycled materials for kids!
1. Pencil shaving art
Every month, I’m very certain I discard at least one garbage bag full of pencil shavings. But did you know that rather than discarding the shavings, you might create beautiful artwork with them? Here’s how to transform a standard pencil shave into a work of art fit for framing!
- Pencil shavings
- Glue
- Fine art paper
- On a piece of fine art paper, use a pencil to sketch the outline of your image.
- Put some glue on the plain outline and adorn it with the pencil shavings.
- You can use the shavings by themselves or colour them to match the image.
- Ta-da! Your repurposed image art is prepared! You can either put it in a frame and hang it in your child’s room or show it on your refrigerator.
Plastic’s detrimental effects on the environment are well known. We all, however, have a collection of plastic bottles that are just hanging around, tucked away in a dark corner. Here’s a creative DIY piggy bank idea for kids that uses plastic bottles. This project will encourage the practise of conserving money in addition to helping recycle a plastic bottle.
- Plastic bottle
- Paint
- Googly eyes
- Waste paper
- Knife/Blade
- Glue
- Rinse the plastic bottle thoroughly to ensure that the interior is spotless.
- Allow your child to decorate the bottle with their preferred colour.
- While the paint dries, cut the waste paper in the shape of pig ears. You can also use waste visiting cards instead of paper.
- Once the paint has dried, adhere the googly eyes in front of the bottle’s mouth and the ears a little below.
- Use a knife to cut a hole in the middle of the bottle large enough to insert coins. It is strongly advised that you do not allow your child to complete this task since they risk cutting themselves with the knife.
- Your piggy bank is ready when you mark the bottle cap with two nostrils.
3. Jewellery stand
This plastic jewellery display that you manufactured yourself is sure to delight your little girl. It’s simple to make, useful, and recyclable.
- Plastic bottles
- Paint
- Knife
- Threaded rod
- Nuts and washers of the same size
- Drill
- Cut out the bottom part of 4 plastic bottles for the stands. (Choose bottles with petal bottoms).
- Drill a hole through the middle of the stands.
- Paint the stands and let them dry.
- Now it’s time to thread the stands.
- Thread the rod through the stands and use the nuts and washers to secure the stand.
- Ensure the stand at the bottom is flipped upside down to offer stability.
- You daughter can now keep her jewellery in this petal stand!
4. Tin can chime
We made a DIY wind chime out of empty tin cans for my daughter’s room rather than purchasing one. We now have more room in our attic in addition to the fact that everything turned out beautifully.
- Yarn
- Washers
- Drill
- Paint
- Rinse the tins to make sure they are clean.
- Remove the lids and keep them separately.
- Drill a hole through the bottom of the tin cans.
- Paint the tin cans in bright colours.
- Pass the yarn through the hole in the tin can.
- Tie two washers to the yarn. One to hold the tin can in place and one at the end of the yarn for that beautiful chime when they hit the can.
- Tie the tin cans together and suspend them off of a flat surface.
- You now have a beautiful and melodious tin can chime ready!
5. Popsicle pen stand
- Empty cardboard box
- Glue
- Sketch pen/paint
- Decoration motifs
- Cut the empty cardboard box to the desired size for the pen stand.
- Paint the popsicle sticks. Alternatively, you can also draw on the popsicle sticks with sketch pens.
- Using glue stick the popsicles on the box so that it covers all the sides.
- Once the glue dries down, you can adorn the pen stand further with animal motifs or any other embellishment of your choice.
6. Sock puppets
It’s time to concede that we will never solve the mystery of the one misplaced sock. Here is a fun activity for you and your kids to do with the single socks that come out of the dryer rather than throwing them all out.
- Old socks or single socks
- Yarn
- Felt paper
- Googly eyes or buttons
- Fabric glue
- Creative imagination
- Turn the sock into your kid’s favourite character. Use the yarn for hair, and the felt paper for ears. If you do not have googly eyes, you can just use buttons for eyes.
- You can even fancy clothes out of the felt paper and stick them to the sock with fabric glue.
7. Plastic spoon mirror decor
I didn’t know plastic forks could look that stylish! This elegant-looking plastic spoon-framed mirror is the ideal accent to your child’s room or bathroom.
- Plastic spoons
- Spray paint or regular paint
- Cardboard sheet (Cut into a round shape)
- Hot glue
- Scissors
- Mirror
- Trace the outline of your mirror on the cardboard sheet. We suggest using small round mirrors.
- Cut the plastic spoons and keep only the ‘scoop’ parts. We will be using these as the petals.
- Spray paint the plastic spoons. You can choose a single colour or go for an ombre effect.
- Start glueing the spoons around the traced mirror part using a hot glue gun.
- Once you are done glueing all the ‘plastic petals’, let it dry.
- Glue the mirror to the cardboard.
- Ta-da! Your pretty and recycled flower mirror frame is ready!
8. Bottle Cap fridge magnet
Using inexpensive bottle caps, you can create something amusing with the aid of this DIY project.
- Bottle caps
- Paint
- Hot glue
- Small magnets
- Nuts