10 Fun Recycling Activities from Home

Quarantine Recycling Fun- 10 Fun Recycling Activities from Home
Written by the Elf on 4/19/2020
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This week is Earth Day! Yay!
During quarantine we’ve seen amazing things happen while the earth takes a little breathe.

But we’ve been stuck at home. And while we’re at home we’ve been able to see what all we are consuming pile up in one place. It’s been insightful, but also a tad overwhelming. In an effort to reduce some of our waste we’ve been trying to recycle or re-use more. Here at 10 fun recycling activities we’ve done in the past few weeks from home.

1-Make a Track with the ends of Tape Rolls

We brought in our little ones outdoor car and I used the last little bit of several tape rolls to make a track for her car. Can also be used for little trains/cars or for a hopping/ skipping/ balance beam game. You can use bits of paper instead of tape, but be careful with that because they get slippery.

2- Make a Collage with Odds and Ends

In one of my better parenting ideas before Easter, we gathered up all the papers we had colored or painted the past two weeks that were not hanging up already and convinced the kids that cutting them up would be fun. We made Easter bunny collages with them.

*BONUS: We had extra cut up paper and a few extra balloons from a quarantine birthday so we also made our own Pinata!! Such a mess, but hours of work and fun. We made Easter Eggs because it was the most simple shape. First you blow up the balloon, then cover it in flour/water/glue pasted paper, let dry, cover it again. Then you paint and decorate it. (It is MESSY! But so much fun!)

3-Make a Fort with all of those Delivery Boxes

Our delivery boxes were piling up. Little ones love to draw on them and imagine in them already, so we decided to make a fort. It quickly dissolved in less than a day and we ended up just using chairs and blankets. But it was a fun process and then we all worked together to break down the boxes to re-use or share.

4-Make Some Puffy Chalk Paint with the little bits of leftover Chalk.

If you managed to find chalk, or already had some. Chances are many of the sticks are tiny little stubs now. You can get some more life out of those pieces by turning them into paint. Crush them up in a bowl and mix with one part flour to one part water with just a dab of dish soap. Mix it up and enjoy. If you don’t have chalk- you can make sidewalk paint with many different ingredients and food dye (it might stain more).

5-Use those leftover cardboard toilet paper tubes!

Toilet paper is a hot commodity right now. Keep those tubes after the paper is gone. You can make shape paint stamps, decorate play bracelets, superhero cuffs, shaker instruments, and for big crafters- you can use these to cut and twirl for rolled paper art.

6-Re-use markers that are dried out to make watercolors!

There’s a lot of ink left in every dried out marker! You can make beautiful watercolors out of them- but it takes time! Go through your markers and find the ones that are dried out. Put the markers tip down in a shallow glass of water. If you want more vibrant colors- cut open the markers and cut the little ink tubes into pieces and place in the water. You have to leave them for multiple days to really get the color. *I suggest five days* You can shake up the water daily and look at how the color is changing.

7- Use those old crayon bits to make new fun ones or art.

Those crayons in the bottom of your purse that you’ve collected from restaurants? The little bits of broken crayons? They can be used to make some awesome new crayons! You can melt new multi-colored by places the pieces in muffin tins, or even with a sheet of tin foil and metal cookie cutters outside if it’s hot and sunny. I also love using pieces of crayons to make melted crayon art (best results with Crayola ones for melted art).

8-Don’t throw out those plastic Easter eggs!

Easter eggs can be used for countless education games. Write a consonant and vowel on the bottom half of the egg and a consonant on the top for a great word building game. You can also make your own matching games with sticky notes, hide pieces in the egg to match to one sticky note at a time. There are lots of options.

9-Empty water bottles can be used as planters or to make a fun bowling game.

You can make bowling pins out of the water bottles by stuffing them with other, heavier, recycled material. Then when you’re done playing, you can recycle the whole bottle. They can also be cut up and used as planters and helpful organizers.

10-Use those bottle lids when you’re done with them.

Younger kids can sort the bottle lids by color, use them in sensory bins, or use them as counting toys. The lids can be used to make little toys even! Older kids can create art with them too! Metal bottle lids and caps can even be used to make jewelry. Our favorite thing right now with my preschooler is to string our applesauce lids together.

What to Check Out Next:

If you enjoyed this post- please share it! Then check out these other posts that you might like.
–25 Engaging Art Activities with only 5 Supplies!
–20 Quick Isolation Tips for Families.
–Audiobooks for the Whole Family.
–Stream it Together– Family Friendly Streaming Suggestions.
–25 Board Games to Play Together.
–8 Sensory Activities with Coordinating Books.
-Our Pinterest boards for quarantined families. Stream it Together and Together at Home.

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