Friday, July 24, 2009

#60 Reuse Materials for Toys/Art Supplies

What do you do with all those plastic items that are not a #1 or #2 and your recycling facility won't take them – think about giving them to your child to create a project with.

I like to use small plastic or styrofoam containers to put paint or water for when we are doing projects. I have also reused the green plastic basket that comes with strawberries to make baskets to give away little items in. Magazines are great for cutting out pictures to make collages.

We also reuse our toilet paper rolls to make projects with them. And newspaper is used a variety of projects to do paper mache and create paper bowl.

Save those leftover fabric scraps, ribbons, or those extra buttons that come with your garments to make puppets (save those old athletic socks w/ a hole in the toe too!). Just set aside some other container (maybe an old whipped topping container) that you can throw these little items in as they happen and when it's time to create just put it out. Kids will love digging through it to see what they can choose from. You will be amazed at the things kids see in various items. They have fabulous imaginations.

And since it's summer, don't forget those popsicle sticks. Save them and create some popsicle are for free. Along with the summer theme, think about those small containers for yogurt or applesauce, they make perfect sized scoops in your sandbox or kiddie pool (or even as a bath toy).

I don't want to give you too many ideas quite yet, because what would I have to write about later. Actually, I was thinking that after I finish my 101 tips, I would continue with ideas for crafts to do yourself or with kids, but I don't know that it would be a daily thing, probably a weekly post. Anyways, here are 5 ideas of crafts/projects to make with your kids that we plan to do soon:

What other ideas do you have to share?

No comments: