My brother and I used to make marble runs out of blocks and his Hot Wheels track and it was one of our favorite things to do! I made this marble run out of recycle bin items like paper towel tubes and recycled cardboard for the new-ish magazine, The Week Junior. Have you seen it? It is a fantastic news and activity magazine for children aged 8-14. I am thrilled to be contributing to their How To column!
Read MoreAs I’ve written many many times, recycled toilet and paper towel tubes are some of my favorite materials. The charm of these animals is that they are animal-like but still look like cardboard tubes— cylindrical and raw cardboard brown. (Though, of course, painting them is a fun thing for little kids to do!) Older kids handy with scissors can make these creatures and adults should handle any cuts made with the utility knife. Once they see how many ways there are to cut cardboard tubes, they will come up with tons of ideas of their own! Create a habitat by cutting paper watering holes and cardboard trees. The eyes are made by hole- punching black construction paper. To glue on tiny circles and other shapes, dot glue onto the tube with a toothpick. Alternatively, the features can be drawn on with a marker.
Read MoreIf you’ve visited this blog before, you may know that my one of my favorite materials is recycled toilet paper and paper towel cardboard tubes. Never throw them away! You can make letters, holiday decorations like these, these, and these, pretend ice cream cones, annnnnd these sea creatures! They’re fun to make and can be strung together into a mobile for a cute room decoration.
Grownups can help by cutting the slits (which require a craft knife). Using pinking shears or zig zag paper edgers adds spikiness to the fish fins and is a quick way to add a mouthful of teeth to the shark!
Read MoreLast year, I crafted some eco-friendly Easter crafts for Parents magazine. They're easy to make and utilize items that you probably have in your recycle bin! These little felt-eared egg bunnies are sitting in grass cuffs made from toilet paper and paper towel tubes. You can find the instructions here (and a video here).
Read MoreSupermakeit is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. However, not all links are monetized or affiliated with amazon.com.
©2015 Jodi Levine. All photographs by Amy Gropp Forbes unless otherwise noted.
