• egg carton flowers in a hanging glass vase
    Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial

    Egg carton flowers

    March 25, 2016 - By 

    This year is speeding by and I can’t believe it’s time for our third craft in the Project: Recycle and Create series. This months materials was egg cartons which I don’t think we’ve ever crafted with before. We had plenty of egg cartons in our recycling box so tried our hand at making egg carton flowers. Egg boxes aren’t half as much fun as I remember from my own childhood. They’ve been re-designed so it’s much harder to cut out a decent dimple to craft with. Instead we cut out the bits in between! Once removed my 4 year old…

  • Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial

    Chalkboard wooden house blocks

    March 15, 2016 - By 

    Today I’m joining in with the monthly Kid Craft Challenge organised by The Resourceful Mama. The theme this month is a craft from a recycled item and as we have (many) offcuts of wood in the shed, I thought it would be fun to make something from these. Chalkboard wooden house blocks First I asked my husband to cut the offcuts into smaller pieces. I roughly measured the blocks about 10cm x 5cm, and he cut them using his electric mitre saw. My 5 year old helped sand each block using a sanding block. My husband taught him the correct way to…

  • Planet Clangers play scene - the gingerbread house
    Kids crafts - Recycled crafts

    Clangers planet play scene

    August 18, 2015 - By 

    Over the last few weeks my son has been making a papier-mâché play scene for his Clangers figures. They live on, and inside, a small moon-like planet which we tried to re-create. He really enjoyed making it, and I’ve enjoyed helping him, so we just had to share it here. We used: Papier-mâché paste Strips of newspaper Empty cardboard boxes, tubes and tubs from the recycling bin Black and white paint Time to make: 2 days DIY Planet Clangers play scene My 5 year old spent some time making a landscape inside a large box lid. He used cardboard tubes…

  • how to build a mud kitchen - the gingerbread house
    Crafts for adults - Kids crafts - playing - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    How to build a mud kitchen

    May 16, 2015 - By 

    A few weeks ago we made our children an outdoor kitchen or mud kitchen. It is quite a basic construction from some unwanted wood but that’s what I love about a mud kitchen – it can be as simple or elaborate as you want. My children love to spend time outdoors and it wasn’t hard to give them some more space, with some spare utensils, to have fun and learn outside. We’ve wanted to make a mud kitchen for our children since we moved house 2 years ago. We managed to stockpile an old pallet and a few scaffolding boards…

  • recycled milk bottle watering can craft for kids - the gingerbread house
    Baker Ross Blogger Network - garden crafts - Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - Spring - tutorial - upcycling

    Recycled milk bottle watering cans for kids

    May 12, 2015 - By 

    We’re all really enjoying spending time out in the garden. Although we’ve been in our house for 2 years now progress on our garden has been slow. Our first priority was the children’s play house, giving them an area for their sand pit and water table, and planting some vegetables in our upcycled pallet planter. Over the weekend we had some fun making simple watering cans for the children to use. Recycled milk bottle watering cans for kids This was really simple but fun. I found a couple of empty milk bottles from the recycling box. I used my Dremel…

  • Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    Easy matchbox treasure box

    April 25, 2015 - By 

    Today we ‘re taking part in a fun 60 Day Junk Play Challege hosted by best toys 4 toddlers. The challenge is running throughout March and April so pop over for some really fun play ideas which turn everyday junk items to toys and play ideas. We love play and upcycling and the only hard part was choosing which material to play with. We chose matchboxes. Easy matchbox treasure box We took some empty cardboard matchboxes and covered them in pretty papers and old magazines to cover up the advertising and strike strip. We also cut a strip to fit…

  • Recycled crafts - sewing

    Monday happy things

    April 20, 2015 - By 

    My favourite post of the week time – my Monday happy things! We had a quiet weekend as the children were poorly but that meant we had time to make them a mud kitchen! I can’t decide whether to paint it or not but it just needs a few more items to finish it off. I sent and received a mini quilt as part of a swap. Making mini quilts is one of my favourite things and it was fun to make something for someone else (rather than my daughter) for a change. As part of my swap package I…

  • kid friendly fairy garden made with a milk bottle from the gingerbread house
    Fairy garden crafts - Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    Recycled milk bottle fairy garden

    April 18, 2015 - By 

    You can tell my son has gone back to school after the Easter holidays as my daughter and I have been spending a lot of time crafting together. Yesterday afternoon we looked through our recycling to see what we could use to make a fairy garden. I’ve seen some amazing fairy garden ideas on Pinterest (check out my outdoor play board for some ideas) but let’s be honest, I don’t think many of them are made by or for children! Today we’ve made a really simple fairy garden, child-friendly, achievable and I’d love to know if it inspires you! Equipment…

  • Scrabble tile dishwasher magnet
    Crafts for adults - Recycled crafts

    DIY Scrabble tile dishwasher magnet

    April 16, 2015 - By 

    I have a fun little make to share with you today. I don’t know about you but my husband is forever putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher when in fact it’s clean and needs emptying. My children also love to help tidy up but needed a little visual help to understand if the dishwasher was clean or dirty. This is such an easy project. I love crafting with Scrabble letters so I have hundreds of tiles to play with but you should be able to pick up a vintage Scrabble set from your local charity shop for a few pounds.…