10 Easy Eco-Crafts for Kids

I love to craft and my kids love it even more, but I’m not particularly fond of the kits you can buy at the store. On top of being kind of pricey, they also have far too much packaging and leave far too little to the imagination. I prefer to use materials we have on hand like from our recycling or our backyard. It’s easier on the pocketbook and easier on the Earth. And, I love how it’s transformed my daughters’ definition of trash.

Actually, my youngest one has become quite the collector and I very regularly hear “Mommy! Don’t throw that away! I’m going to use it for a craft.” We have bags of toilet paper tubes and wine corks and old magazines piling up in our basement. The other day she asked me not to throw away the little white pad from a used band-aid. I’ve created a very imaginative little pack rat monster.

We do make beautiful crafts and have tons of fun, so I’m not going to discourage her in the least. While we usually try to come up with our own innovative uses for things, there are a ton of great ideas on-line to help inspire. The Crafty Crow is one of our favorite places to start, but I’ll give you a jump start by sharing ten awesome eco-crafts to get your creative juices flowing:

Juice top sewing cards from One Inch World