We’ve had almost a month full of school here in the Queendom already. I know many little Lords and Ladies are headed back to the classroom today across the nation, too. So we’re continuing our Back to School Bonanza posts with yet another great Guest Post from a sweet friend of mine from my college years – Lady Vanessa of Silly Eagle Books. I can truly say she’s beautiful both inwardly and outwardly. It’s an honor to share her tips today. And since I’m a non-crafty person, I doubly appreciate these tips.
How to Stock Your Homeschool Craft Box for FREE
I’m a stay-at-home mom to a preschooler, former school-teacher, and one of those CRAFTY people. Basically, that means I like making things with my hands. If you’ve ever spent any time with a preschooler, you know that they like making things, specifically messes, with their hands, as well. And while I love crafting with my daughter, I do not enjoy paying for craft supplies. Mostly because the things we make only live for a few days on our refrigerator before being tossed into the recycle box in order to make room for the next creation.
In order to feed our crafting appetite and avoid spending money on craft supplies, I’ve learned to look at household items and the contents of our recycle box in a new way. I’ve discovered that I can round up the supplies we need for almost every crafting activity that we do by keeping the following items on hand.
Cardboard Items
Empty cereal or snack boxes, paper towel and toilet tissue tubes, brown paper bags, and old postal boxes are all great stock items. You can use them as the base for so many projects. I like to cut up the cereal boxes and use the flat sheets as canvases for art projects. Left intact, boxes can be decorated and transformed into almost anything–from a miniature city to a doghouse to a special valentines box. Brown paper bags work well as canvases, too. I especially like the ones with handles because once my artist has completed her work, it’s ready to hang from a doorknob or hook.
Empty Containers
Curiously shaped bottles, empty yogurt cups, pretty tissue boxes, plastic egg cartons, and tin cans can all be reused as craft supplies. We’ve filled bottles with rice to make shakers, turned tissue boxes into cars for stuffed animals, and made bell-shaped christmas ornaments out of yogurt containers. Egg cartons are great for sorting supplies and for experimenting with water and food coloring.
Plastic Bottle Caps
If you don’t collect plastic bottle caps, now is the time to start! They come in a rainbow of colors and can be used in so many different ways such as the buttons for a medical machine, knobs for a play kitchen set, or building pieces. We’ve made bottle cap animals, memory games, miniature cakes, and a variety of homemade Christmas tree ornaments using our bottle cap stash. And if you are really feeling ambitious, you can even use them for a variety of preschool learning activities!
Packaging
Along with plastic bottle caps, you can salvage other useful packaging items from your recycle box such as foil from the tops of food containers like yogurt, sour cream, or other spreads. After it’s washed and dried, you can use the foil in sheets or cut them up into confetti-like sprinkles to embellish any number of projects. Toiletry caps from shaving cream bottles, shampoos, and lotions are good for making little hats, boats, and as stacking toys. Don’t toss those free magnets you get from local businesses–they are perfect for cutting up and gluing to the backs of your own homemade magnets. Save corks to make your own stamps.
I started saving the plastic lids from wipes containers last year, not knowing what I would do with them, but certain we could figure something out. One day, an idea struck and we made some fun knock-knock valentines together. I don’t know what you have in your house, but if it looks somewhat interesting, keep it! You might discover a fun new way to reuse it.
Paper Products
Magazines are an obvious choice for cutting out images for collages and other projects, but you can also make use of old greeting cards, torn or damaged paper book covers, paint chips, and the insides of security envelopes. Any sort of paper product with an interesting design or texture can be used again as a project embellishment.
Fabric and Trim
Instead of sending all your old clothes to Goodwill, keep a few to cut up and use for crafting. Also, save those extra buttons you get with new clothing purchases. I throw all of mine into a box and let my daughter use them for projects. Keep an eye open for bits of ribbon you can find from wrapped gifts and new product packaging. Outgrown or single socks can have new lives as sock puppets.
Start looking at your trash with new eyes and you’ll probably discover many other great sources for free crafting materials. Broken toys can be disassembled and reused in new ways, old jewelry can add some flash and flair, and even items from your garden like leaves, twigs, and rocks can be used to create art.
I’m not saying I never buy craft supplies–we still need the basics like paint, glue, tape, crayons, glitter, and a few other splurges–but we do pretty well reusing our trash.
What about you? What’s your favorite item to reuse?
Thanks again Lady Vanessa! These are great suggestions for keeping crafts (which can easily become VERY expensive) a fun part of Back-to-School or anytime of the year at all, no matter your age.
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