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50+ Recycled Crafts & Activities for Kids

Are you looking for a way to reuse your single-use packaging and household recycling? These recycled crafts and activities for kids are a great way to reuse recycling materials and learn about protecting our environment!

Identifying ways to reduce the number of single-use items (like plastic water bottles!), reuse empty packaging and materials, and recycle items that can be properly recycled are incredibly important practices to implement in order to conserve and protect our environment.

A picture of 9 plastic bottle recycle projects for kids

Learn to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle!

Ways to Reduce Waste

Some ways to reduce waste include avoiding single-use food and drink containers and utensils, using reusable grocery bags, buying items secondhand and donating used good, and shopping local farmers markets or buying in bulk to reduce packaging.

Ways to Reuse

Crafts and activities using materials that would otherwise be discarded are a great way to reuse. Reusing things is actually a better way to protect the environment because no energy is needed to recycle the materials.

You’ll find a ton of recycle projects for kids to create beautiful artwork, assist in gardening, and create functional projects for learning below!

Ways to Recycle

According to the EPA, plastic bottles are the most recycled plastic product in the United States as of 2018. When you recycle just 10 plastic bottles, you can save enough energy to power a laptop for more than 25 hours!

Learning how to sort recycling is important for recycling waste correctly.

Favorite Recycled Supplies

Some of our favorite recycled supplies for our recycled art projects include:

  • plastic water bottles
  • newspaper
  • fabric scraps
  • paper cups
  • Shoeboxes
  • Bottlecaps
  • Lids
  • cardboard boxes
  • cereal boxes
  • egg cartons
  • paper tubes
  • cans & jars
  • scrap wood
  • Magazines
  • Takeout containers

You’ll also like: 12 Ways to Make More Eco-Friendly Kid Crafts from Barley & Birch

Recycled Crafts & Activities for Kids

Reuse household materials instead of sending them to the recycling bin or (even worse) to the trash!

Reuse Plastic Bottles and Caps

Reuse plastic bottles and caps to make these great recycled arts and crafts.

Reuse Paper Tubes

These activities are a great way to reuse toilet paper tubes as well as paper towel tubes.

Recycled Cardboard Crafts

Check out these great crafts and activities to reuse cardboard!

Recycled Paper Crafts

These recycled paper crafts and activities are a great way to reuse paper, milk cartons, and newspaper.

Reuse Egg Cartons

Check out these ways to crafts with egg cartons and start reusing egg cartons today!

Reuse Other Recycled Materials

Find even more recycled crafts and activities using broken crayons, corn husks, and fabric.

A picture of 9 recycled crafts and activities for kids.

Meet Toni, the Maker Mom behind Our Family Code

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Hey there, I’m Toni! I’m a software engineer and Maker Mom that finds my joy in unleashing my children’s curiosity by exploring STEAM concepts with my fantastic five!

When I’m not chasing toddlers or raising tweens, you can find me tearing things up and putting them back together over here at Our Family Code.

I am the owner and content creator of multiple educational websites designed to increase access to STEAM & STEM education with a focus on teaching computer science and coding to kids of all ages!

You can also find out more about me by visiting ToniGardner.com!

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