Recycling Crafts for Earth Day: Leftovers to Collages
If you are one of our newer followers, let me fill you in on a not-so-well-kept-secret:
we craft a lot in this house. A lot.
No, I mean a ton.
Stickers are not safe from the hands of our 2 year old. Crayons are her meditation medium.
From paint, pom-poms and perler beads to foam, feathers, and felt: we use it.
That leaves a lot of ‘extra’ pieces of things that we need to either recycle, put in the landfill, or my favorite option: use in a new craft!
Click on “Read More” to join us in exploring the creativity that can come from cast-offs.
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Our 2 year old already knows which bin is for garbage and which is for recycling, but I’m not sure much else about our Earth Day discussions is going to stick. She knows not to let the water run when washing hands, but if you aren’t there to stop her, she’ll set up a water park in the bathroom.
If you’d like to play with her, I’m sure she’d only charge you an apple as your admission ticket.
I store all small pieces of leftover craft supplies in a sealed bin because we use them for so many things.
“Imagination Station” Crafts
We put out supplies and our daughter comes up with her own creation. She needs help crafting it right now, but I’m very excited for the day she completes one entirely on her own. “Me do it” is already showing up daily in craft time and I love it!
An example is this little cutie you can read about here:
Filler / Supplements / Finishing Touches
There are many times we just need a tiny bit of something or other to properly finish off a crayon-colored monster.
“All monsters need yarn hair, Mommy.”
Puppets
We make so many quick puppets to accompany our books (or the library’s) because they make for such a great story extender. We also make a ton of puppets just to have fun with. Most of the puppets are built from a craft stick and cast offs from other projects: pieces of paper, yarn remnants, half a pipe cleaner, etc.
Some of our puppets are interactive play puppets and the quick (but still so popular) “I just got assaulted by an appliance” puppet:
Nature Collages
We go on daily walks and end up back home with our pockets full of nature. Elise will attach pieces to contact paper to make her own sensory boards or art projects.
Cast-Off Collages
This is such a fun activity to see how a child’s knowledge of a topic can really shine! I asked Elise to tell me everything she knew about the ocean. Leaving it very open, she described the colors of the water, anemones, coral, seaweed, fish (and their bubbles), and all types of other inhabitants.
To be perfectly blunt: I was floored by how much she knew; I was speechless at times as she described her understanding of the word. 
Right now, she is using a TON of glue on projects, so this took a while to dry. It took 3 days to completely dry, but those pom-poms aren’t going anywhere. Ever.
The picture on the right demonstrates her over-use of glue: see that dime-sized dome of glue? It’s for a very small feather. When I asked if perhaps she had enough glue for that feather, I was dismissed by the face you see there.
Meet the Creator
Hi there, I’m Sarah Nenni-Daher. I’m a crafty gal and always have at least 14 projects going at once. I am a crafter, designer, DIYer, and pattern maker. I share my creations here and in the Ruffles and Rain Boots® Shop.
Here at Ruffles and Rain Boots®, you’ll find DIY gnomes, crafts, gifts, cupcakes, laser crafts, and so much more. I love sharing video tutorials over on YouTube and chatting with other crafters in my Facebook groups. We’d love to have you!