Kids + Garbage = Creative Genius

Enviro Girl’s kids love to do art–and she’s happy to provide them with the essentials:  paint, crayons, markers, glue.  But the rest?  Come from the recycle bin.  An ice cream carton lid provides a palate for paint.  An old baby bottle with the nipple cut back makes an excellent water dish–it helps knock off the excess water with each dip of the brush.  Paper printed on one side is a canvas for all future drawings and paintings.  For 3-D art, Enviro Girl cuts buttons off old shirts before they become rags, saves old greeting cards and egg cartoons, dissembles Grandma’s old junk jewelry and reserves bottle caps and old fabric scraps.  Dry pasta and seeds also make excellent mediums for self-expression.  These recycled materials supplement the occasional purchase of beads, glitter, popsicle sticks and feathers.

And clean cans from the recycle bin are perfect storage for all art supplies–from colored pencils to sticker sheets to markers to pens.

No muss, no fuss, creativity abounds when you combine kids and garbage!  There’s no need to shell out for fancy art supplies and storage when you can repurpose the contents of your recycle bin. The only question remaining is how to display all that creative genius.  For that I direct you here to Abby’s post where she explains how to do that on a dime with some paint and clipboards (super cute and clever!).

Enviro Girl says, “Save your money and don’t shop Hobby Lobby or Michael’s for what you can find in your trash bin.”