INDIANAPOLIS — With many kids doing virtual school, you may be looking for some fun ways to entertain your kids during free time.
How about creating crafts by using items from your recycle bin?
I’ve recruited my niece and nephew Sydney and Brady, to help me with some cool crafts with recyclables.
"What should we make first?" I asked them.
“How about a bird feeder," said my nephew, Brady Calder, who is 5 years old.
We decided to reuse an old milk jug and also help wildlife!
Make sure the milk jug is cleaned out with soapy water and peel off labels and replace the lid. Have an adult use scissors to cut out windows in the milk jug.
Poke two holes in the top and run a wire or string through the holes. You can add a perch to the window with sticks or doll rods.
Add a slit to each side, make sure they are shorter than the sticks. Glue into place.
The kids can decorate the jug with other plastic lids, paint, stickers or markers. And finally, fill up with birdseed and hang it up!
You also probably have paper towel rolls in your recycling bin. Grab one, along with a plastic lid or cup and you can make a kaleidoscope.
Have the kids decorate scrapbook paper with crayons or markers. Glue the paper inside the roll. Cut off excess from the tube. Trace the tube end on plastic and cut out the circle. Hot glue the circle to the bottom end of the paper towel tube. Drop translucent beads into the tube.
Put the second plastic circle in the tube and push it down to the end of the roll. Make sure its loose enough that the beads can move in the bottom.
Glue the pieces together in the shape of a triangle and glue it inside of tube. Glue the last plastic circle at the end.
Decorate the outside of the tube and hold it up to the light and enjoy.
Here is another fun craft project for younger kids
“Use toilet paper rolls to create binoculars!” Brady said.
Take two toilet paper rolls and have the kids decorate the outsides with paint, markers, or stickers. Tape the two tubes together with packaging tape. Make a neck strap with about a yard of cord or ribbon.
Loop it through each side and tie it in a knot. Tape over the knot to secure it.
"Now I can watch the birds eat the seed out of my bird feeder!" Brady said.
You can also reuse tin cans by making wind chimes!
You will need several tins in various sizes.
Hammer a nail hole in the bottom of each tin can. Take the labels off and decorate with paint.
After the cans are dry, slip string of different sizes through the nail holes in the can. Then tie each can onto a clothes hanger
“Hang the tin can wind chime outside and listen to the music it makes!” said 11-year-old niece Sydney Calder.
Some other great recyclable craft ideas are linked below: