Let's Recycle and Get Crafty

 For my virtual "Let's Recycle and Get Crafty" program, I wanted to show how you can use everyday items around the house to make upcycled crafts and that this can be something kids can easily do with a caregiver's help during the pandemic. 

After searching for some ideas online, I decided on showing how to make a bird feeder, spring wreath, and smiley face jars using recyclable items. 

The easiest craft would have to be the smiley face jars. For this craft, the upcycled item was a glass jar or plastic container and the kids simply had to pick their favorite paint color at home and paint the whole jar/container with paint and let it dry. Afterwards, add some googly eyes and a smiley face to complete a cute jar that can be used for flowers or as a pencil holder. This idea was courtesy of Fun and Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials by Kimberly McLeod. 

The next craft idea shown was making a spring flower wreath using cardboard egg cartons, a paper plate as a base, and paint. After the wreath base was painted and the egg carton was cut out to make flower-looking pieces, let everything sit and dry and then start gluing and adding cute elements like pom poms and sequins. 

The final recycled craft idea was making a bird feeder using a can, some colorful duct tape, and ribbon. Once the can (I used a small coffee can) was cut at both ends using a can opener, duct tape can be added for a spring look and a lid can be cut in half. Once attached to both ends of the can and adding a string, this is a simple and upcycled craft that just needs some bird seed. 

I was glad I was able to do this virtual program to show how it's easy to make something using recyclable materials. This is a great way to show kids the importance about recycling and still make it fun!

Family Storytime: Earth Day

We celebrated Earth Day by reading a few Earth Day books, doing some related flannels, and completing an Earth-friendly craft.

I started off storytime with our bean bag song and then started reading The Lonely Giant by Sophie Ambrose. I really enjoyed the message in this book because it went perfectly well with Earth Day, but the kids were still very excited so we quickly got through this one and started a flannelboard.

For our first flannelboard activity, I put a flannel Earth on the board and everyone had a different colored rocket to put on the flannelboard. They enjoyed their part of the flannel activity and got most of their antsiness out.

I read The Earth Book by Todd Parr and 10Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh. They seemed to have enjoyed these two books better and then I had them participate in a flannel about compost.

This flannel had a rhyme about five worms and how they recycled into the earth different things such as egg shells and old banana peels. The group liked putting their piece up on the board.

We got to our craft and they were excited to get painting. We used recycled newsletters with a circle drawn on them. The kids painted their earth blue and green and then added a die-cut hand and heart. These crafts turned out really cute and everything was recycled.

Other Books:
Junkyard Mike Austin

The Lonely Giant Sophie Ambrose

Plants Feed Me Lizzy Rockwell

The Curious Garden Peter Brown

From the Garden Todd Ouren

A Boy and A Jaguar Alan Rabinowitz

One Child, One Planet Bridget McGovern Llewwllyn

Junkyard Mike Austin

Rose's Garden by Reynolds

the Gardener by Stewart

Plant a Little Seed Christensen

And the Good Brown Earth Henderson

All the World Elizabeth Garton Scanlon

The Tree Lady Hopkins

Parrots Over Puerto Rico Roth

Other Activities

If You're Happy and You Know It

This Land Is Your Land song with scarve dancing