“These bracelets are so colorful and fun to make and wear, for both boys and girls! You can make these rainbow bracelets after dying your pasta in Kool-Aid.”
Ages 3-8
Pasta & Beads Bracelets | Ages 3-8
Red, White and Blue Star Crayons | Ages 3+
“Making crayons is a great way to recycle all those broken crayons! It's a lot of fun to choose a new color mix and fun shapes. These festive stars would be a great favor to have at a family Fourth of July party.”
Ages 3+
Sun Piñata | Ages 3-11
Marble Maze | Ages 5-11
“We love getting multiple uses out of simple materials. That's why we created this easy DIY Marble maze. Not only will you repurpose an old crate or box to make the maze. But you will also be able to play multiple games out of one project! If your kids enjoy puzzles or strategy games then this would be a perfect DIY for your family.”
Ages 5-11
Acrylic Sunprint T-Shirts | Ages 5-16
“Make printed T-shirts powered by the sun! Paint your shirt and place objects on (while it is still wet!) The sun heats up the parts of the T-shirt that are uncovered, but not the parts that are blocked by the objects. When water gets hot, it starts to evaporate, turning from a liquid to a gas. The paint starts to dry, and the water starts to evaporate on the uncovered parts, but under the blocks, it stays wet. As the water evaporates from the T-shirt, water and paint from under the blocks moves out into the dry areas, like how the dry edge of a paper towel picks up spilled juice (or some other image). Eventually, all the paint gets drawn out from under the blocks, leaving you with unpainted shapes on a painted background.”
Ages 5-16
Mini Snow Machine | Ages 9-16
“Create the magic of snow without all the cold! With a set of simple electronics, we created a mini snow machine to mimic a winter blizzard.”
Ages 9-16
Water Bottle Lantern | Ages 9-16
“When the sun goes down and the stars come out, a campsite can get pretty dark if you don't have a lantern. I made my own lantern with a water bottle. That's right, a DIY lantern. You can make one, too, and share the light with friends and family during your next camping trip.”
Ages 9-16
Cork Animal | Ages 3-9
“Sculpting, building and creating with new materials is a fun way to be creative and use the wonderful power of imagination. Putting a few new things in front of my children always surprises me in the best way. I love seeing what they create.”
Ages 3-9
Milk Carton Animals | Ages 3-8
“My two-year old is in a barn animal phase. It's super cute--all his animal noises and the pointing out of each cow and pig he sees everywhere we go (it's surprising how often we see them!) I wanted to make an easy animal craft with him that he would enjoy.”
Ages 3-8
5 Things Kids Can Do To Reduce Waste
“The Earth is mighty, and its resources are vast. The more trash piles we create, though, the fewer its resources become. We only have one Earth, and we can each do our part to take care of it. Unsure of where to begin? We can start by reducing the amount of waste we contribute to landfills. Celebrate this Earth Day by putting into practice these five ways to reduce waste around your home.”
Origami Pinwheel Craft
“Explore the power of the wind with this colorful pinwheel craft!
Pinwheels resemble wind turbines, or machines that change the energy in wind into mechanical or electrical energy. A wind turbine, like a pinwheel, has a rotor with blades that is connected to a base. When wind hits the blades, the rotor and the base turn as well. As the base turns, it is able to produce either mechanical or electrical energy. The more wind that hits the blades, the more the rotor can turn, and the more energy the wind turbine produces!
Wind power is a great topic to explore with kids during warm summer days, and can easily be demonstrated with this simple craft. These pinwheels come together fast and spin in the wind even faster! We used recycled tin cans, added 3 coats of spray paint and turned them into the perfect planters for our flowers and a way to display our pinwheels!”
Make a Pen Cap Bracelet!
Go Green! Recycle Old, Dried Out Markers into Paint!
Weaving Experiments | Finding Use for Your Yarn Scraps
“If you’re like me, you have a large collection of yarn scraps that are just long enough to not want to throw them away. So what do you do with your yarn scraps?”
Projects include:
How to Recycle Old Crayons Into New Ones + Other Projects
Thanks to Sarah for sharing this website with us!
This page contains this project plus many others, categorized by DIY Projects, Needlecrafts, Paper Crafts, Kids’ Crafts, Hobbies, Beadwork & More!
Free Recycling and Upcycling Art Ideas
“Find inspiration in the recycle bin as you learn how to make musical instruments from flower pots, gargoyles from coffee trays and relief carvings from drywall. These lesson plans and ideas will inspire you to reduce, reuse and recycle!”
Crate Castle | Ages 4-8
”Upcycle your box into a castle with a drawbridge! Make the castle shown here, and then Invite your friends over to help make designs of your own.”
Ages 4-8