Eco-friendly Craft, Going Green

1.Piggy bank - Fun and creative craft idea, use empty baby food boxes as piggy bank.

Before throwing away empty baby food boxes, here are fun recycling projects for you and your kids. Create a piggy bank from used boxes.

An adult help is required.

Materials:

• Empty baby food box
• Acrylic paints
• Brushes
• Gesso
• (Optional)Sticker, napkins, pictures
• Sharp Knife

1. Apply gesso. It’s a primer for painting.

2. Paint the box with any color you like.

3. Decoration:

• When the box is dry, your kids can decorate it any way they like: colorful stickers, drawing with acrylic paints.
• You can use your kid's photos to decorate the box - print some photos, cut around the picture and make a collage.
• If you are familiar the napkin technique it can add a nice touch to the box.

There are plenty of decoration options, let your child use his/her imagination.

4. Use a sharp knife to cut a small slit on the lid.

2. Keepsake box - Learn how to create a gorgeous keepsake box from a shoe box, a perfect solution to store all your kid's valuable artworks. 

Shoe boxes can make a great storage solution. Whenever you buy shoes, don't throw away the box, you can use it for storing. It's also a useful idea to keep your kid's room nice and tidy with colorful boxes. You can make a nice decorated shoe box in which your child can keep his favorite drawings, store Lego, all sort of unboxed games or what ever he can fit in. Decorating a shoe box it's easy and fun:

Materials:

• Shoe box
• Acrylic paints
• Brushes
• (Optional)Gesso
• (Optional)Sticker, napkins, pictures

Paint the box with any color you like:

• If the box is dark and you want to achieve a bright color, paint a white coat first then apply your desired color.
• If the box has glossy finish, use gesso first. It’s a primer for painting.

Decoration:

• When the box is dry, your kids can decorate it anyway they like: colorful stickers, drawing with acrylic paints.
• You can use your kid's photos to decorate the box - print some photos, cut around the picture and make a collage.
• If you are familiar the napkin technique it can add a nice touch to the box. There are plenty of decoration options, let your child use his/her imagination.
  
  
  

3. Toilet paper roll crafts - Toilet paper rolls can be used as a great material for kid crafts, here are some cool recycling projects you can use.

Toilet paper rolls can be used as a great material for kid crafts. Before throwing them away, here are some cool recycling projects you can use.

Using toilet paper rolls for craft is a great recycling idea and the fun part is that your kid can use his imagination to create anything they want.

Here are some ideas for you to start with:

A. Animals 

This one is so much fun, my daughter just loves this. Your kid can create any animal he wants using the toilet roll as the base. Here is a link to a cute website that offers plenty of ideas for toilet rolls animals.

Your child can choose his favorite animal, print it out, paint it, cut it and glow it to the toilet roll. The outcome is absolutely adorable.

B. Trees

• Use the roll as a base, let your child paint it.
• Cut a tree top from cardboard , your kid can paint and decorate it.
• With scissors make two slits on top of the roll, they should be located one opposite another.
• Slip the tree top onto the tree base.

C. Flowers

• Cut some cardboard in a shape of flowers and let your kid decorate them.
• For the steam use Popsicle sticks. Once the flower dry make a small cut in the center and insert the stick.
• The toilet roll can be used as a vase.
• Cut a small piece of cardboard and glow it to the bottom of the roll.
• Put the flowers inside the vase.

D. More ideas:

• Binoculars - Make binoculars out of 2 rolls.
• Robot - Wrap a roll with aluminum foil and create a shape of a robot.
• Doll - Use misc. craft supplies to make hair, clothes, mouth, etc.
• Big tower - Glow as many rolls as you can one on top of the other.

There are many more fun ideas you can use, however let your child use their imagination and create beautiful things on their own.

4. Old CDs - fun craft ideas - What you can do with old and used CDs.
 

You probably have many used and old CDs lying around your home or your office. Don’t throw them away, there are a lot of fun thing you and your kids can do with them.

Here are some cool old CDs craft projects to make with your kids:
 

CD Animals
My 4 years old daughter made this cute snail in the picture. They worked on this project in their recycling class.

Your child can choose any animal he likes (bear, turtle, snail, beaver, etc…), let him color the CD with markers.

Cut the body parts of the animal your child wants from a cardboard. For the snail they cut his body, for a bear you should cut his head, arms and legs. And let your kid to decorate it. Don’t forget to add eyes.

To finish, they glue a Popsicle stick on the back side of the CD. They took a cardboard (from a cereal box), cut out a little stripe at the bottom of the board so that the stick could go inside and your kid can move the snail from one side to another (like it is taking a walk).

 
Photo Holder 

Punch a hole at the top of the CD, glue a photo in the center and let your child to decorate around it with some stickers or markers.Thread a twine and hang it on the wall. A nice idea might be to make several photo holders and hang them vertically to achieve photo display.

Christmas Ornaments
Punch a hole at the top of the CD, thread ribbon through the hole and tie a nice bow. Your child can decorate it with nice stickers, or you can glue your kid’s pictures in the center of the CD or angels pictures. Hang on your Christmas tree, it is cool to see how they reflect the light.

Clock
You can buy in a craft store clockworks, glue the numbers and ask your kid to decorate it.

Coasters / Candle Holder
Let your child decorate the CD with markers. Then you can use it as coasters or candle holder, it reflects the light nicely.

Mobile
Decorate the CD with some colorful stickers or cartoon pictures. To make a vertical mobile glue the back of the CDs with ribbon, to make a round mobile for a baby, tread a ribbon to each CD and hang it. The light will draw their attention.

Old CDs Birthday Card (or Christmas)
Print your kid’s birthday whishes glue it to the CD and give your child to decorate it. For Christmas, you can print a picture of your family, glue it in the center and have your kid decorate it.

Car Ornament

Punch a hole at the top, tread a pipe cleaner, you can add some colorful beads to decorate it. Print out a blessing for a safe journey, laminate it and glue to the CD. Your kid can add some colorful stickers for decoration.

It’s a nice gift for a mother or a father who drives a lot, to keep them safe and remind them of their kids.

5. Decorating terracotta plant pot - Decorating a plant pot it's a fun project for all ages, your children can grow organic plants in their decorated pots, which will visually demonstrate how fruits and vegetables grow. 

Decorating a plant pot it's a fun eco friendly crafts project for all ages. Your children can grow organic plants in their decorated plant pot, which will visually demonstrate how fruits and vegetables grow.

Materials:

• Terracotta plant pot
• Gesso or some other paint emulsion
• Color paints (water based)
• Paint brushes
• Soil (for organic plants)
• Organic seeds

1. Ask your child to paint the pot with a base coat of emulsion or gesso, put aside to dry.

2. Let your child decide how they are going to decorate the pot: colorful dots, stripes, stars, paint some flowers, butterflies or ladybugs. Just let their imagination go wild.

3. Put some paint on a paper plate and let your kid decorate his pot. Let it dry.

4. Together, fill the pot with soil and plant the seeds.

Tips:

• Talk about the design with your children before they start, then let them get on with it.
• If you don't want to use paint, use misc. craft supplies such as googly eyes, stickers etc that can be glued to the pot.