Recycling Box Crafts

Recycling in itself is a great activity for children, it teaches them how to take care of the
environment and how to sort objects into different materials (plastic, metal, paper). As
long as all the items are clean and free from sharp edges children should be able to make
use of any and all items in the family recycling bin.

As any parent knows, younger children are more fascinated by cardboard boxes than
what came in them. This isnt as true for older children but they still love to play with
and create things out of cardboard. Some other items that children can use that you may
not readily associate with recycling are:

*Birthday or Christmas cards if you do not keep them year after year kids can cut
them up and use the images for pictures or as puppets by gluing a popsicle stick to
the back.
*Old newspaper and magazines. The newspaper can be shredded for paper mach
or children can cut out individual letters to create a secret message. The
magazines can be used to cut out letters too or cut out pictures to make a collage.
*Old clothing such as orphaned socks or jeans that are beyond repair. Use the
socks to make sock puppets and put on a puppet show. You can use other
recycled materials to decorate the sock puppet. A popular craft made with blue
jeans is to cut off the back pockets and sew onto a purse or use both pockets to
create a smaller purse.
*Old compact discs that dont work anymore can be decorated and re-used as
coasters.

Children have great imaginations, let them pick their own materials from the recycling
and see what they come up with. Just be careful with glass and other items that could cut
or otherwise hurt younger children.