DIY + Recycled Eco Kids Activities

Eco Kids magazine

EcoKids 1

Eco Kids Magazine

Recycle...aimed at encouraging children to practice eco-friendly activities. Begin with simple recycling of household goods and treasures found from nature. "Reduce, recycle and reuse, Be careful with the things you choose. Don't leave lights and water on,Pick up litter when you're done. Keep the air and water clean. Help our earth stay strong & green!"

Recycling Greeting Cards

With Christmas over and done with for another year, you are by now probably wondering what to do with the

cards from friends and family that were just too nice to throw away.

Here are two more suggestions to add to the endless list of 'what to do with greeting cards'.

The first is simple.

Machine two cards together around three sides.

Fill the pocket with lavender before closing the fourth side. These can be further decorated with lace, ribbon or pinking shears.

The second suggestion is a little more involved. However, it is worth

persevering to make these little boxes which when finished, are 4 cm square and have many uses.

For gift giving, you can put jewellery, coins, miniature collection of tiny shells. With imagination the list goes on.

Cut two 10 cm squares, one from the front of card and one from the back. The front of the card becomes the lid and the back 10 cm is the base.

Mark centre and fold corners in, making a 7 cm square.

The lid square will have pattern showing.

The base will have any markings covered by the folding.

Cut four corners - 1.5 cm on lid. 1.7 cm on base.

Fold up along dotted lines. All folds should be creased firmly.

Open out flaps A and B.

Stand up sides C and D.

Fold in all corner squares then close flaps A and B over the sides formed by the corners. To neaten inside put a small square in the bottom or seal with cellotape.

Need a Rubbish Bin for your Bedroom?

Two handy and inexpensive ideas...

1. Track down a 3litre juice tin. You may have to go to a local cafe/hotel/catering service or even the tip to find it.

Wash and dry thoroughly.

Measure height and circumference and cut out a plain piece of paper, adding a few centimetres to the latter so you can overlap and glue.

Decorate with your drawings, cut-outs of favourite things, find items from nature or whatever you prefer. You might want your parents to help cover with clear contact.

2. The second rubbish bin is made from a hunted down commercial ice cream bucket.

Decorate with brightly coloured textas.

Feely Book For Littlies
A feely book makes a practical present for a little brother or sister and will cost you next to nothing to make.

You will need:

light card or strong paper for the pages
heavy card for the cover
paste or glue
scissors, ruler, pencil, paper punch
metal rings or string to fasten the book together
range of recycled materials with different textures - sandpaper, lace, velvet, silk, wool, corduroy
fabric, string.

A small book is easiest for a littlie to handle so work out the measurements and then rule up your covers and pages.

Cut out, then punch holes along one side for the fastener. Glue a different textile to each page, you may like to use both both sides or you may prefer to keep the back of the page plain.

Set aside in a safe place to dry.

Assemble the pages in the order you like, add covers and fasten together with the metal rings or thread firm string through and tie with a bow.

Write the child's name on the front and decorate.

Puppets from Toilet Rolls

You can make all sorts of exciting people from a couple of toilet rolls and some scrap paper and material. Glue features like eyes, nose, mouth ears and hair onto a toilet roll.

Some different ideas are buttons, cut wool felt or paper for eyes.

Lengths of yarn, wool, cut paper, ribbon or cotton wool for hair, and different shaped hats, scarves or bows to decorate the head.

Add a skirt by cutting a circle of fabric the size of the roll in the centre of rectangular piece and inserting the toilet roll in it.

Tie the material on with a sash. You could also try a bow tie, and shirt front to make a male puppet.

Gumnut Puppets

You will need a number of large gumnuts for this, the larger the better.

!. Decorate the gumnut so it looks like a face using a little wool for hair and glueing flat seeds for eyes.
2. Cut out a little dress or pants and shirt and sew together.
3. Finally gather in with a small running stitch around the neck, stitch firmly before breaking the thread.
4. Add a small amount of glue to keep the dress securely in place.
5. Glue cut out wool felt decorations onto the clothes.
Make a puppet theatre from old cardboard boxes and put on a earth puppet show.

If our earth could talk, what do you think it would tell us?

"Reduce, recycle and reuse,
Be careful with the things you choose.
Don't leave lights and water on,
Pick up litter when you're done.
Keep the air and water clean,Help our earth stay strong and green!"

Windowsill Gardening

This is very easy to do - all you need is a number of old empty jars and some bits and pieces from the

vegetable rack.

Carrot or parsnip tops: ask your parents not to cut off the tops with their pretty leaves. Trim off, then place in a jar of water.

Potatoes: sort through the potato basket and you will usually find one or two with shoots appearing. Place potato into a jar or, if it is too small, skewer with two toothpicks.

Onions: those that are just starting to shoot are ideal. Just place in a jar and watch the rapid root development.

Pineapple tops can also be grown. The pineapple should be cut so that a thin slice of fruit is left attached to the top. Place it in a shallow dish of water -- even a saucer will do -- and make sure it does not dry out.