Recycled Art
Fantastic musical craft from contributing writer Kim Young! I can’t wait to do this with my little guy .
This craft is a fun way to teach young children about sound. All you will need are toilet and/or paper towel rolls, markers, wax paper, rubber bands, and scissors. 
Have your child decorate the roll however they would like. You can use crayons, markers, glue and glitter, or stickers. Whatever you have available will work great.
Cut the wax paper into 3 inch squares, place over one end of the roll, and secure with a rubber band.
Now have your child blow or hum into the roll. You will know you are doing it properly when you hear the loud vibrations from the wax paper.
We talked about how the air carried the sound from our mouths, into the tube, and then to the wax paper. The sound became vibrations again. When my son questioned the “again” part, I turned on music and sat him on the subwoofer to the surround sound system. He instantly got the vibration part of sound.
This craft was a fun way to show the scientific side of music to my son. He mostly just enjoyed his new instrument. My daughter (only 20 months) really enjoyed making music in these as well. This craft was not messy, very fast, and provided the kids with hours of enjoyment playing music. Perfect for a quick craft or a craft at someone else’s house.
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Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.
I can not explain how much fun these were to make, and then use at dinner. Yesterday I asked my readers on facebook if their kids have chores, and that question came out of this post since setting the table is one of my son’s responsibilities. Making these fun monogrammed napkin rings made his job even more fun and he excitedly set the table, and made a point to tell us all why we had the letter we had. Learning is never far away.
- Gather your materials. You will need some corrugated cardboard, magnetic letters, water colors, scissors and a hot glue gun ( adults only!).
- Start by having your child paint the cardboard with the watercolors. My son was so into this today, I think he liked the bumpy surface of the cardboard, and the sounds it made when he changed the force and speed with which he painted. Don’t put a time limit on this, but remember the younger the child, generally the shorter the time.
- Let dry ( won’t take long).
- Choose the letters you are using. Our well loved magnetic letters were short most of the vowels, so there was no A for Allie, instead I got M for Mommy, I like that name best anyway.
- When the cardboard is dry cut out into strips.
- I handed my son some scissors and the left over cardboard to have fun cutting while I used the now hot glue gun.
- Glue the cardboard strips into rings.
- Next he played with the extra letters.
- And I glue the letters we’d selected onto the rings. You will want to hold the letters on for a minute while the glue congeals. Even big kids should have an adult do the gluing. I burnt myself 3 times !
Now you have napkin rings, and place cards all in one!
If your child is school age or if you are lucky enough to get book orders at your preschool or childcare center this craft is for you! Of course you can also use newspaper , but the book orders are so colorful! So grab whatever you have, and make a pretty necklace, or bracelet for Earth Day tomorrow.
- Gather your materials. You will need some colorful newspaper or Scholastic Book Order fliers, some ribbon, some elastic bands, white glue and scissors.
- Roll your paper starting from the open ends so when you glue the end it’s one piece not a bunch of pages fanning out, I made two one this way one the other and the other one was big huge flop . Glue the edge.
- Add elastics to keep it in place and let dry- mine only took 2 hours to dry, I would expect 2-4 for a good bond.
- Cut into beads.
- Thread it onto your ribbon. If you really want to make a cool bracelet cut those elastics you already used , tie them together and strong the beads on to make an elastic bracelet. I would only do this with an older child though, as it could snap easily, but if they are old enough it would be rad!
- Voila a recycled bead necklace!
Like this idea but have a toddler? Try our Toilet roll necklace instead!
14 Comments »
I love using toilet paper rolls for crafts, it’s one thing that the vast majority of households have on hand at any given time. I love the 3D aspect of this craft and the fine motor work it demands for coloring the petals. It can also be used to teach patterns- or simply art done any way they choose! Toddlers can get in on the action by dipping the cut rolls into plates of paint instead of coloring the petals one by one! You may notice my son is absent, he was outside enjoying the sun and making houses for worms.
- Gather your materials. You will need 2-3 toilet paper rolls, a piece of heavier paper ( construction paper or card stock), some markers or paint, scissors and glue.
- Start by cutting your rolls into smaller pieces.
- Cut vertically into the roll and fan it out to make petals.
- Color the petals with markers, or paint.
This takes patience , which makes this a great group project hand a group of kids a small number of flowers and have them each make the number they wish , so it’s not overwhelming. - Add glue and place the flowers on your paper- ours is pink and looks great in person but is washed out in the pictures.
- Pop on the paper and let dry. We let it dry for 4-5 hours before moving it.
Books
by Eric Carle is a story about a tiny seed who unlike the other seeds from his flower makes it against all odds to continue the cycle of life. I really enjoy this book and love how it shows all the obstacles along the way for a simple little seed. My son liked this book but didn’t make it all the way through, which I expected since it is a long book for a 2 year old.
Chrysanthemum
The Boy Who Grew Flowers
16 Comments »
I know this isn’t going to be the most popular post we have ever posted, but my son is into music. He is also into music stands and every where we go he finds one. At restaurants the “Please wait to be seated” sign is one, at parks the little signs that tell you about the plants become ones and on the airplane his tray table became one too. So it shouldn’t have been such a shock when he said he wanted to make one for a project. Well I never say no to a challenge!
- Gather your materials. You will need a wrapping paper roll , a shoe box , decorations ( we used stickers) , scissors and a lot of packing tape.
- Start by having your wee one add stickers to the roll for decoration, you can also paint or color it too! Can you tell he just got up from a nap?
- Cut the top off the shoe box. Keep both pieces.
- Make a slit on either side of one end of the roll about 2-3 inches long.
- Bend one side down to make a lip. Tape the top of the shoe box on . Use a lot of tape!
- Cut 4 slits on the other end about the same length to make an X shape.
- Have your helper hold the tube to the bottom of the box. This picture took almost as long to take as the stand took to make.
- Tape it down.
- It’s done and leaning only a little to the right.
Books
Mole Music
Sunny
Moose Music
17 Comments »
