Toddler Art: A Great Way to Recycle
You do all you can to recycle your trash. You sort your cans, paper, and glass, and have even eliminated most of the plastic trash that comes into the house. Yet there are still those odd items that just can’t be easily kept out of the trash can. What to do?
Easy! If you have a little one, use those items in an art project! By creating art with your toddler, you can glean a time of learning and togetherness out of an unneeded item. It might still end up in the landfill eventually, but at least you’ll have redeemed another use out of it.
Collages are terrific fun for small children. Use the back of a piece of junk mail or cereal box for your backing. Now find items to glue down in an interesting arrangement. Cotton from medicine bottles can become clouds or white birds. Lids can become wheels on a bus. Scraps of fabric, patterned envelope linings, and foil food wrappers can all be reused in this profitable learning time.
Another consideration about recycling and children’s art is what to do with the finished works. Sure, it’s greenest to go paperless and email Grandma with the latest exploits of your little ones, but if Grandma is not online yet, consider writing letters to her on the back of those little scribble drawings your tot makes. She’ll love her bonus “letter” from the grandbaby.
A number of household items can be recycled into playthings for a small child. Every child enjoys playing with a large cardboard box. Maybe you can even get your hands on an appliance box. These can be artistically remade into wonderful, whimsical playhouses, forts and castles that can be used indoors anytime or outdoors in nice weather.
Have you been tempted to pick up one of those cute plastic paint smocks for your toddler? If you can’t find one second hand at a yard sale or thrift shop, cut a large bib from an old shower curtain or table cloth, and it will work just as well. In addition, if you save your roll-on deodorant bottles, they can be rinsed out (pry the ball out first) and filled with finger paint. Replace the ball, and you have a paint roller that’s fun to draw with.
It is possible to spend a lot of money and generate a lot of landfill trash when buying art materials for your small children. By using your imagination and creativity, most of these items can be easily substituted with recycled materials found around the home.
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