Create Craft
8 Recycled Crafts for Zero-Waste Fun.
There are hours of fun hiding in your recycling bin.
If you were five years old, you might be taught about the plastic water bottles that accumulated in the ocean and harmed the fish that have lived there for hundreds of years.
Instead, put yourself in the shoes of a 5-year-old who is just learning that an empty plastic bottle doesn’t have to go in the trash.
You may make your own unique bird feeder out of it, as well as a tiny planter box and many other things.
Activities using recycled crafts are your best allies for teaching children about recycling and waste reduction because of this. It’s a chance to show children how much fun it can be to give used items a new life and use. They must be especially enjoyable, engaging for creativity, and simple to participate in for them to be successful.
And it was with this exact set of requirements in mind that we chose these ten recycled craft projects for kids.
1. Help them create their funny egg head planters
Why you should consider this recycled crafts project: Children realise that they can have a lot of fun and get creative by reusing items around them while also learning about plants and how their seeds require water, soil, and sunlight to thrive.
What you’ll need:
- Eggs
- Seeds
- Soil
- Permanent markers
- Cardstock
How to: Start by making holes at the top of the eggs that are no bigger than a quarter in diameter. This hole will be used to drain the egg, which you should then let dry. Next, let your kids draw some adorable and hilarious faces on their eggs. Once finished, let them to fill the eggs with soil, then add the seeds and hydrate them. Over the next days, expect to see excited kids wondering whose eggshell head will sprout first.
In case the drawing process results in some… cracking small accidents, think about keeping some more eggshells on hand.
2. Help them build their own paper roll dragons
Why you should consider this recycled crafts project: Children discover that they can turn old items as mundane as toilet paper rolls into something truly cool while having a tonne of fun.
What you’ll need:
- Toilet paper rolls
- Cardboard egg carton
- Cereal
- Googly eyes
- Paint (acrylic works great)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Origami paper or tissue paper
How to: Cut the dragon heads out of the egg carton’s divots. Then, help the kids colour their toilet paper rolls and the heads of the dragons before helping them attach the heads to the bodies. After cutting them out of craft foam, add the dragons’ googly eyes and assist the kids in attaching their wings, arms, feet, and horns. Cut cardboard cereal box tails for the dragons, assist the kids in attaching them, and then invite them to paint the tails as well. Have the spikes attached, then let the kids cut the dragons’ flames and insert them into the mouths of their dragons.
3. Help them learn basic science concepts playing with cardboard tubes
Why you should consider this recycled crafts project: Through play, you may assist children in exploring and learning STEM ideas while also educating kids on the value of recycling and upcycling.
You’ll need:
- Cardboard tubes
How to execute: As it was previously stated, “you have an incredible power as a practitioner in making the world a little greener.” Therefore, rather than throwing away the cardboard tubes in your environment, you can use them for activities like encouraging students to observe how each tube acts after being rolled down a ramp and how it corresponds to their various lengths. Or what happens if they try to roll a tube after crushing it? When they look through them, what do they see? Combine these exercises with free-form inquiries to inspire kids to gain confidence and discover the world.
4. Cardboard flower collage
Why you should consider this recycled crafts project: This exercise challenges kids to view “waste” differently by transforming everyday items like egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, and cardboard boxes into a dazzling, artistic collage.
You’ll need:
- Cardboard (consider a mix of cardboard from cereal boxes and corrugated cardboard)
- Cardboard egg cartons
- Toilet paper rolls (paper towel rolls)
- Paint
- Scissors
- Glue
How to execute: Encourage kids to paint cardboard rectangles or squares that have been cut out sky blue. Next, help them cut out the tiny flowers, encourage them to paint the flower parts, and then glue the painted flower pieces to the cardboards. It’s one of those inventive recycling ideas that kids adore since they get to create their own designs; it’s crucial to give everyone room to express their own thoughts.
5. Help children make chair fidgets out of old T-shirts
Why you should consider this recycled crafts project: It raises children’s awareness of the useful items made from recycled materials (rather than just the entertaining or creative things they can make) and provides them with a crucial tool to help them fidget and self-regulate in the classroom.
You’ll need:
- Old t-shirts (the more colors, the merrier)
- Needle
- Thread
- Scissors
How to execute: It’s preferable to have an adult complete this step as it involves cutting the old tees into strips and stitching the ends together. Then have the kids assist you in braiding them. Simply bind the ends by wrapping them together again. Simply wrap them around the chair legs, then let your tiny assistants try them out!
6. Help children build a soda bottle bird feeder
Why you should consider this recycled crafts project: In addition to emphasising the notion of giving a second life to a used item, it also teaches young children to appreciate the natural world around them and to form bonds with the smaller animals.
What you’ll need:
- Craft knife
- Pencil
- String
- Large plastic bottle
How to do it: Cut a rectangle from the bottle, then use your craft knife to pierce it so the string can be inserted to hold it. For that first stage, it is preferable to keep kids out of the area. After that, allow your kids to place the pencil that the birds will use as a perch inside the bottle and ask them to fill the bottom with seeds. Think about getting kids to sing a song about birds (perhaps a rhyme that gets them to dance) and posing open-ended questions to them about their favourite birds. You can either hang your feeders outside the window of your classroom or ask students to bring them home.
7. Encourage children to thread cardboard bead chains
Why you should think about doing this recycled crafts project: The kids get to have fun while rescuing some used wrapping paper tubes from the garbage and developing their motor skills via play.
What you’ll need:
- Cardboard tubes (wrapping paper tubes would do)
- Paint
- 4 pipe cleaners
Cut the cardboard tubes into pieces that are all about the same length, then let the kids have fun painting them. Next, create a lengthy piece out of your four pipe cleaner ends that finishes in a circular loop to keep your beads from sliding off. Children can then use it as a necklace, practise threading, or perceive it as a colourful snake that they can drag around the room.
8. Build boats from recycled materials
Why you should consider this recycled crafts project: While having splashy fun, the kids are also learning about STEM topics like buoyancy.
What you’ll need:
- Various recycled bin items: bottles, lids, plastic milk jug, egg cartons, styrofoam tray, etc.
- Scissors
- Duct tape
Make a boat out of the milk jug’s plastic and let the kids check if it floats. Encourage kids to conduct experiments with other nearby things (even an egg carton) so they may examine various materials and learn which ones absorb and which ones don’t.