Recycled Snake Craft

Last week was spring break so I promised the kids a trip to "the big library." We lucked out because we just happened to go during the 1 hour that they had a craft room open! It was toward the end of the hour, so we had to carefully pick and choose how to spend our time. I pointed out that some of the other projects were ones we could easily do at home, but this one in particular intrigued me so I asked them to help me create it.

In just about 5 minutes, we ended up with this friendly blue snake made from recycled materials. I think it's fitting to share this clever craft idea now since today is Earth Day. If you've got some old tights that you were thinking of tossing out, here's a nifty way to re-purpose them into something fun and new. Isn't it fabulous?

{I Ssssssssssssssee You!}

Materials:

• old pair tights (or pantyhose, if you don't mind your snake's body being sheer instead of opaque)
• scissors
• newspaper
• googly eyes (or eyeball stickers)
• scrap of paper, felt, ribbon, or yarn for tongue
• glue

Directions:

1. Cut the legs off a pair of old tights (or pantyhose). One pair of tights will make two snakes.
2. Stuff one leg with crumpled or wadded newspaper. Depending on the size of the tights, it may be helpful to first cut the paper into smaller rectangles.
3. Stuff the nylon full of newspaper, leaving about three inches at the end. Use this material to tie a knot, closing the end. It's stretchy, making it easy to work with!
4. Glue on two googly eyes. We were provided with eyeball stickers for this, but I think googly eyes may hold up better long-term.
5. Glue on a tongue. We placed ours right along the seam, which reminded me of a mouth. The tongue we were provided with was a yellow construction paper rectangle with a fork at the end. I curled it slightly around my finger before gluing it to the tights. If you don't want to use paper, I think felt, ribbon, or yarn would be a more durable alternative. This is resourceful, too, if you already have bits of those items laying around.

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to check out my review and giveaway from Path Publishing! The giveaway runs through April 28, 2014.

Earth Day Recyled Crafts Round-Up

In celebration of Earth Day, I thought I would create a round-up of some recycled craft projects that we have done over the years. This list is by no means comprehensive, but here are more than 60 projects that we have made using recycled materials. Pulling craft projects together is easier (and cheaper!) than you might realize when you just start to think inside the recycling box. The best things in life really are free. Many craft materials are readily available in your home so now's the perfect time to get creative.

Bubble Wrap:

• A-Corny Printmaking Project
• Bubble Wrap Indian Corn Print Making

Cardboard Tubes:

{Homemade Sidewalk Chalk}

• Advent Wreath
• Butterfly
• Bird Feeder
• Bunny
• Chick
• Christmas Tree
• Holly-Day Wreath
• Indian Corn
• Octopus
• Rainbow Pom Pom Chutes
• Reindeer
• Scarecrow
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Turkey
• Wind Sock

Cardboard Boxes:

{Rainbow Pull-String Pinata}

• Cars Party Pit Stop Game
• Cheer Bear Photo Prop
• Horse Diorama
• Lorax Moustache on a Stick
• Lightning McQueen Pull-String Pinata
• Rainbow Pull-String Pinata
• Sandpaper Letter Rubbings
• Welcome to Care-a-Lot! Sign

Egg Cartons:

• Bat
• Caterpillar (I never wrote a post about when we made these, but they were just like what you probably did as a child. We dressed ours up with torn pieces of colorful tissue paper that were glued onto the caterpillar's bodies.)
• Paint Trays/Organizers (Even if you don't make the egg cartons into something, you can use them for holding paint. You can cut them apart if you are just using a couple of colors or keep them whole if you are using lots of colors or if you need space for mixing. They also are handy for sorting out beads, dyed pasta, buttons, beans, sequins or any other collage material you are working with like we did with the spices for making turkey cards.)

Glass Jars:

{"Sand" Art Jars}

• Centerpieces
• Crystal Snowflakes
• Jar-o'-Lanterns
• "Sand" Art
• Sidewalk Paint
• Snow Globe

Milk Jugs:

• Berry Buckets
• Ghostly Greeters
• School Bus with Working Wheels

Paper Bags:

• Gingerbread Men Paper Dolls
• Indian Corn
• Pumpkins
• Reindeer Paper Dolls
• Rudolph Puppet
• Turkey
• Turkey Puppet

Plastic Bottles:

{Seek 'n' Find Bottle}

• Bottle Cap Stamps
• Bubble Blower
• Seek 'n' Find Bottle
• Turkey Leg Maraca
• Wave Bottle

Styrofoam:

• Pot 'o Gold
• Print Making 

Tin Cans:

• Bat Treat Cup
• Cat Treat Cup
• Rudolph Treat Cup
• Snowman Treat Cup
• Valentine's Day Heart Bouquet

Tissue Paper (saved from gift bags):

• Apple Tree
• Autumn Tree Collage
• Sun Catchers (Easter Eggs are just one example. We've made sun catcher for most every holiday and season.)
• Yertle the Turtle

Various Other Materials:

{Paperback Pumpkin}

• Angel
• Drum
• Frog Craft
• Headband Organizer
• Magnet Craft
• Newsprint Flowers
• Owl
• Paperback Pumpkins, Apples, and Pears
• Tree Frog

Earth Day Flower Crafts

I came up with this recycled craft in honor of Earth Day.

Materials:

• newspaper
• scissors
• watercolor paints
• paintbrush
• construction paper 
• pencil
• buttons (optional)
• decorative scissors (optional)
• lids, cups, bowls, plates, etc. for tracing
• drinking straws, pipe cleaners, or yarn (optional)

Directions:

1. Trace various sized circles onto newspaper. (I used lids and plastic containers from the recycling bin for this, but you could also use cups, bowls, or plates.)
2. Fill in circles with watercolor paints. 
3. Allow to dry and then cut out circles using scissors or decorative scissors. I used some with scalloped and zigzag edges, for example.
4. Layer and arrange circles as desired to form flowers. When you're happy with the arrangement, glue flowers onto construction paper.
5. Add extra decorative touches to the flowers if desired. I used buttons for the flower's centers, but you could also make stems using straws, pipe cleaners, or yarn.

   

   {Mia, age 4, put her own spin on this craft. After cutting out her circles, she pinched them into flowers and added pipe cleaner stems like we had done when we made coffee filter carnations.}