Chipper Crafts: 7 Recycled Christmas Crafts for Kids

One week till Christmas! Are you ready for the festivities? Celebrate in style and try decorating with some of these cute crafts made from recycled materials. They are fun and easy to make and a great way to spend some time with your kids. The Holidays are about spending time with the ones you love and making everything sparkle and glow (from the inside-out).  7 days left — 7 crafts: Time to get Crafty this Christmas!

1) Corky Rudolph Decoration:

All you need for this simple craft is a recycled cork (which should be plentiful during the Holidays), a brown pipe cleaner, a red bead or pin for the nose, and some googly eyes! Don’t have ornament hooks? Just bend some paper clips out–they work great! Don’t want to buy googly eyes? Just draw some on with a permanent marker, cut some out with paper, or find something around the house like buttons, push pins, or pom poms.

Instructions:

Twist you brown pipe cleaner around your cork in the middle and then shape ends into antlers. Then ass your nose and eyes: use glue (hot glue gun works best but any will work if you let dry long enough) or just stick in a push pin nose. Then attach your ornament hook/paper clip/string, hang on your tree or around the house, and voila! You have a quirky Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer decoration!

You can also make cute Recycled Toilet Roll Rudolphs or from lids too! All you need is:

• Recycled Toilet Paper Roll

• Pipe Cleaners

• Brown Paper Bag

• Googly Eyes

• Something red, like a sequin or a red marker, for Rudolph’s nose!

• Tape (Double-Stick works best!)

• Scissors

How to:

1. Use scissors to trim your paper bag down and wrap your toilet roll. Use tape to attach.

2. Twist some pipe cleaners into antlers and attach to the inside of your roll with tape.

3. Use scraps from your paper bag leftovers to cut out ears! Use a black marker of pen to color in your ears and attach to the inside of your roll with tape.

4. Tape or draw on googly eyes and nose.

5. Make all of Santa’s Reindeer and place around the home, whether on your tree or the Christmas dinner table, for some festive decor!

Use the same materials but with metal-adhesive glue and add a ribbon to make a cute reindeer lid ornament!

2) CD Ornament:

Create a personalized ornament add to your collection by using a recycled CD! Not only does it provide a sturdy base for your ornament, but you can design some neat looks with its circular shape. This would is a great project to showcase your family’s holiday photos through the years. Or get nuts with some puffy/glitter paint! Anther idea is to color your CD with some markers, add Elmer glue, and let dry for a pastel colored CD decoration.

3) Clay Pot Snowman

Use an old plant pot or a recycled plastic cups to make snowmen! Find some wrapping paper or use recycled paper first and wrap your pot/cup using tape or glue. Then use markers or puffy paint to make your snowman face! Torn fabric or ribbon can be used to decorate the top. Just cover a cup with some paper, poke a hole in the top with scissors to hang (with string, ribbon or a bent paper clip), and let your child use their imagination to make a original ornament!

4) Egg Carton Silver Bells

 Transform a simple egg carton cup into a fabulous bell ornament! This is a simple project, good for a parent and young child to make together on a winter night!

Materials Needed:

• Egg Carton

• Foil

 • Large Needle

 • Thin ribbon or yarn (thread works too since these are quite light!)

 • Scissors

You can do the parts that need scissors and needle depending on your little one(s) age(s). Your child(ren) can wrap the foil and hang the finished bell. Each bell is made using one cup cut from an egg carton. Start off by cutting off an egg carton cup and trimming around the edges. Cut a piece of tin foil about 6-inches square and wrap it around the egg carton cup and tuck the extra foil into the inside of the cup. Set the foil wrapped egg carton cup on your table upside down (open side should be on the table). Poke a small hole in the center of the egg carton cup using a needle. Cut about 12-inches of narrow ribbon or thick yarn. Holding the two ends of the ribbon together, tie two or three knots on top of each other. Push the other end (the looped end) up through the hole so that the knot is inside the bell. Pull the ribbon up as far as it will go. Your bell is now ready to decorate if you like. You can decorate with stickers, glitter, or anything else you have around or just leave it plain. Hang on your Christmas tree and enjoy!

5) Festive Container

Make a fun container perfect for a Holiday gift of cookies/etc. using a recycled Pringles potato chip container or a coffee container or a oatmeal container (pretty much any container you have used that has a sealed top). You can even send these in the mail!

Materials Needed:

• Container

• Items to Decorate (see below)

• Glue

Instructions:
Clean out the inside with paper towels letting them absorb most of the oil that might be left in the can or whatever was in your recycled container.  Then using paper, fabric, or wrapping paper cover the outside. Hot glue works best for the fabric and wrapping paper; white glue or tacky glue is sometimes better for construction paper. Both work fine though so use whatever you have. Now get creative! Decorate with markers, glitter and sequins–sky’s the limit!

If you are using this container for cookies, put waxed paper inside once the outside is decorated. Stack cookies into the can just like the chips used to be. If there is a little space at the top and another cookie won’t fit you can use a little waxed paper to act as packing. Put the top back on and you have a wonderful cookie gift for friends, family or Santa!

6) Old Bags, New Look

Why spend money on new gift bags every year? Re-use, Reduce, and Recycle! Save sturdy store bags throughout the year. As the holidays approach, the family personalizes the bags (and covers any store names or logos) by gluing on old holiday cards.

Materials Needed: