I’m just gonna be honest here. I used to throw toilet paper rolls away without even thinking about it. Egg cartons went straight in the recycling. Cardboard boxes got broken down and taken out before my kids even knew they existed.
And then one rainy Tuesday happened. I’m desperately googling craft ideas while my kids are just standing there looking at me like I’m supposed to produce entertainment from thin air, and I have literally zero craft supplies in the house. What I do have is a pile of random stuff waiting to go out with the recycling.
That day kind of changed everything actually.
Turns out the best craft supplies aren’t the fancy things you buy at Michael’s. They’re the weird containers and packaging and random bits that just accumulate in every house whether you want them to or not. And kids? They genuinely do not care that their art supplies came from the trash. They care that they get to cut stuff and glue stuff and make a giant mess.
So here’s my collection of recycled crafts we actually do. Nothing complicated. Nothing requiring supplies you gotta go buy. Just good messy creative chaos using things you were probably gonna throw out.
I hoard these now like they’re valuable. I have a whole drawer.
Animals
This is the classic one and it works literally every time. Give a kid a toilet paper roll and some markers or paint and maybe paper scraps for ears or wings or whatever and just let them make an animal.
We’ve done owls with big paper eyes. Butterflies with tissue paper wings. Snakes which are basically just painted tubes but my son was extremely proud of his snake so whatever. The good thing is there’s no wrong way. A four year old’s owl looks different than an eight year old’s owl and both are great.
Binoculars
Tape two rolls together side by side. Let them decorate. Punch holes on the outsides and put string through for a strap.
Binoculars. My daughter used hers for like a solid week of “bird watching” which was mostly staring at backyard squirrels and reporting back to me about their activities. I learned a lot about those squirrels. More than I needed to honestly.
Little Seed Planters
Poke some holes in the bottom of a toilet paper roll, put some dirt in, plant seeds. The whole thing can go straight into the ground eventually since the cardboard just breaks down.
This one’s nice if you want to do the whole teaching kids about growing things situation. They get the craft part and then they get to watch something actually happen from it. Very satisfying.
Egg cartons are weirdly useful. The little cups cut apart become like a hundred different things.
Caterpillars
Cut a row of like four or five cups staying connected. Paint them green or whatever. Add googly eyes on one end or just draw eyes, stick pipe cleaners in for antennae if you have any.
That’s a caterpillar. Done. My kids have made probably fifty of these over the years and they still get excited every time. I don’t understand it but I don’t need to.
Flowers
Cut single cups out and then cut slits around the edges to make petals. Paint them bright colors. Glue onto paper stems or tape to sticks from outside.
You can make a whole bouquet and they actually look pretty cute in a jar? I’m not just saying that because I’m biased toward stuff my kids make. Okay maybe I’m a little biased.
Sorting Trays
More activity than craft but very useful. Keep an egg carton whole and use it for sorting small stuff. Buttons, beads, little rocks, whatever you’ve got lying around. Sort by color or size or shape.
For little kids learning numbers you can put stickers in each cup and they put that many things in. Sneaky learning disguised as play. My favorite kind of thing.
Bigger box means bigger possibilities but small boxes work too.
Cars and Spaceships and Whatever
A box big enough to sit in becomes a car or spaceship or boat or train. Cut out a windshield area, let them paint it, maybe add paper plate wheels.
My son sat in a diaper box decorated like a race car making engine noises for what felt like hours. The box eventually just fell apart from use which I think means it was a success.
Cardboard City
Save smaller boxes over time. Cereal boxes, cracker boxes, tissue boxes. Then one day pull them all out and make a whole town. Paint buildings, add windows and doors, make signs.
Put it all on a big piece of cardboard as a base, add toy cars and little figures, suddenly you have this whole play world. This project can keep going for days or weeks as you add more buildings. It just grows.
Box Guitar
Cut an oval hole in a shoebox lid. Stretch rubber bands around the box going over the hole. Tape a paper towel roll to one end as the neck.
It makes sound. Not good sound. But sound. My kids started a “band” with homemade instruments and did a concert for me. Very loud. I clapped enthusiastically.
Before you toss these think for a second.
Bottle Bowling
Save like ten plastic bottles. Water bottles are perfect. Put a little sand or rice or water in them for weight. Set up like bowling pins. Use a soft ball.
Instant bowling alley. You can let kids decorate the bottles first if you want it to feel fancier.
Bottle Planters
Cut a bottle in half the wide way. Bottom half is a planter now. Decorate the outside with paint or tissue paper. Poke drainage holes, add dirt and seeds or a plant.
You can also cut bottles to look like animals and then the plant grows out like hair or a mane or whatever. It’s cute. Pinterest has approximately one million examples if you need inspiration.
Sensory Bottles
For little kids clear bottles can become these mesmerizing things. Fill with water and add glitter, small beads, food coloring, baby oil for weird cool separation effects.
Hot glue the cap shut so nobody can open it and you have a calm down bottle or just a fun thing to shake and stare at. My toddler was obsessed with hers for months.
Magazine Collages
Old magazines are perfect for cutting up. Kids cut out pictures and words and colors they like and glue everything onto paper. Give them a theme or just let them do whatever.
I like this one because it works for every age. A three year old can tear pictures and stick them down. A ten year old can make something actually artistic. Everybody wins.
Newspaper Hats and Stuff
If you get actual newspapers or have packing paper which works the same, you can fold it into hats and boats and airplanes. Tutorials online for all kinds of newspaper folding things.
My kids particularly love newspaper pirate hats. They wear them with the toilet paper roll binoculars and cardboard swords. Full adventure kit made from trash basically.
Jar Lid Magnets
Save lids from jars. Kids glue pictures or decorations inside the lid. Glue a magnet on the back.
Custom fridge magnets. These are also great gifts for grandparents by the way. Grandparents go absolutely wild for this kind of thing.
Beyond just keeping kids busy there’s something genuinely good about teaching them to see potential in stuff that would otherwise be garbage. It’s creative thinking actually happening. It’s learning you don’t have to buy new things to make something cool.
And honestly some of our best craft projects have come from looking at a random container and going what could this be? Different kind of creativity than following a kit with instructions.
Plus it’s free basically. Which is nice when you’ve already spent your entire budget on snacks and activities and the seventeen thousand other things kids need.
So before you throw out that next toilet paper roll or egg carton maybe toss it in a bin instead. You never know when a rainy Tuesday is gonna hit and you’ll be glad you kept it.
What do you make with recycled stuff? Always looking for ideas especially things my kids haven’t done yet. They think they’ve tried everything at this point so I enjoy proving them wrong.
