Best crafts made out of recycled materials for kids!

Best crafts made out of recycled materials for kids!

Making crafts and artwork with the family is a lot of fun. But what if I told you that you could make beautiful crafts out of trash? We’ve got 10 recycled craft ideas for kids in this article. You can reduce waste and teach youngsters a little bit about recycling with these recycled-material crafts!

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!

What you’ll need:

  • Razor shavings
  • a pencil, sketch pens, or paint, and glue
  • premium art paper
How to:

  • On a piece of quality art paper, use a pencil to sketch the outline of your image.
  • Apply glue to the plain outline and adorn it with the pencil shavings.
  • The shavings can either be used on their own or coloured 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.

2. Plastic bottle piggy bank


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.

What you’ll need:

  • Paint in a plastic bottle
  • squinty eyes
  • Paper scraps Knife or blade Glue
How to:
  • Rinse the plastic bottle thoroughly to ensure that the interior is spotless.
  • Allow your child to decorate the bottle with their own colour.
  • Cut the scrap paper into pig ears while the paint is drying. Instead of using paper, you might instead use used business cards.
  • 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 top 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.

What you’ll need:

  • Paint, plastic bottles, knives
  • Equal-size nuts and washers for threaded rod
How to:
  • For the supports, cut out the bottom of 4 plastic bottles. Pick bottles with petal-shaped bottoms.
  • Make a hole in the stands’ centre with a drill.
  • The stands should be painted, then dried.
  • The stands must now be threaded.
  • Use the nuts and washers to secure the stand after threading the rod through the stands.
  • To provide stability, make sure the bottom stand is turned upside down.
  • With this petal stand, your girl may now preserve her jewelery!

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.

What you’ll need:

  • Yarn washers, empty tin cans, and
  • Drill Paint
How to:
  • To make sure the tins are clean, rinse them.
  • The lids should be taken off and stored separately.
  • Make a hole in the bottom of each tin can.
  • The tin cans should be painted in vivid hues.
  • Thread the yarn through the tin can’s hole.
  • Attach two washers with yarn ties. One at the end of the yarn for the lovely chime as they strike the can, and one to hold the tin can in place.
  • The tin cans should be tied together and hung from a flat surface.
  • You now possess a lovely and pleasing tin can chime!

5. Popsicle pen stand

You’ll be disposing of a lot of popsicle sticks each week if your kids are anything like mine. Regardless matter the weather, popsicles are a staple in my household. Here’s a creative method to transform those boring popsicle sticks into a fascinating pen stand!

What you’ll need:

  • Popsicle sticks a cardboard box that is empty glue
  • Pencil and/or paint decoration motifs
How to:
  • For the pen stand, cut the empty cardboard box to the appropriate size.
  • Popsicle sticks can be painted. As an alternative, you can use sketch pens to make drawings on the popsicle sticks.
  • Popsicles are adhered to the box with glue so that they cover the entire surface.
  • You can further decorate the pen stand with animal motifs or any other adornment after the adhesive has had time to dry.

6. Sock puppets

It’s time to concede that we will never solve the mystery of the one misplaced sock. Here is a fun game for you and your kids to do with the single socks that come out of the dryer rather than throwing them all out.

What you’ll need:
  • worn-out or lone socks
  • Felt paper, yarn
  • gimmicks or buttons
  • Fabric adhesive Originality
How to:

  • Make your child’s favourite character out of the sock. Use the felt paper for the ears and the yarn for the hair. You may just use buttons for eyes if you don’t have googly eyes. 
  • Even elaborate outfits made of felt paper can be attached to socks using fabric adhesive.

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.

What you’ll need:

  • wooden spoons
  • Regular paint or spray paint
  • cardboard sheet (formed into a circle)
  • Mirror Scissors Hot glue
How to:
  • On the cardboard sheet, draw a line around the mirror’s outline. We advise utilising little spherical mirrors.
  • Only the’scoop’ portions of the plastic spoons should be kept after cutting. These will serve as the petals.
  • The plastic spoons are spray painted. A single colour or an ombre effect are both options.
  • Using a hot glue gun, begin glueing the spoons around the traced mirror portion.
  • After adhering every “plastic petal” with glue, allow it to dry.
  • To the cardboard, glue the mirror.
  • Ta-da! Your charming repurposed flower mirror frame is now complete! 

8. Bottle Cap fridge magnet

Using inexpensive bottle caps, you may create something amusing with the aid of this DIY project.

What you’ll need:

  • painted bottle tops, hot glue
  • Nuts, tiny magnets
How to:

  • Paint the magnet’s top side (let your kids choose the design).
  • Use hot glue to attach the nut to the magnet.
  • Once the paint on the cap has dry, attach the nut with the magnet so that the magnet is facing up on the bottom of the cap.
  • Your magnet for the refrigerator is prepared!
Without the nut, you can glue the magnet, but because of how the cap is shaped, the magnet might not stick to the refrigerator.

9. CD coasters

For all the used CDs you have laying around the house, this is a creative and practical DIY.


What you’ll need:

  • outdated CDs paint twine
  • Regular glue Hot glue Cardboard paper
How to:

  • Using cardboard paper that has been trimmed to fit the hole, cover the CD’s centre hole. For this, you can use two sheets of paper glued together using normal adhesive.
  • Brighten up the CD by painting it. For a clean appearance, use primer paint before normal paint.
  • Apply hot glue to a piece of twine and wrap it around the CD once the paint has dry. Your CD coaster will now be complete.

10. Leaf confetti

Even though it may not technically include any waste, this is still a much better choice than paper confetti. You can also teach your children about sustainability with this.

What you’ll need:

  • Paper punch, dry leaves, and paint are optional.

How to:

  • Gather your dried leaves, then begin using the paper puncher to make holes in them.
  • You can simply paint the leaf confetti if you only want it to be a certain hue.

For a variety of events and craft/art projects, normal confetti can be used in place of this environmentally friendly confetti.

Which of these recycled-material projects are you going to attempt first, then? If you have any suggestions for recycled craft projects, please let us know!

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Morgan has seven years of expertise in digital media and works as an online editor …

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