Recycled Crafts Box : Sock Puppets, Cardboard Castles, Bottle Bugs and 37 More Earth-Friendly Projects and Activities You Can Create

By Laura C. Martin and Laura C. Martin

Book Overview

Corrugated Castle. Fancy Foil Fish Mobile. Paper Bead Bangles. Braided Rag Coasters. Old Shoe Flower Pots. Puppy Dog Sock Puppet. With a little imagination, just about anything we think of as trash can be transformed into an art project good enough to give as a gift or to keep and treasure yourself. Master crafter Laura C. Martin shows kids how to make art out of the paper, plastic, metal, and cloth we usually consign to the recycling bin or the garbage can.The way Martin sees it, just about everything around us holds artistic possibilities. Plastic picnic plates can be cut up to make a bouquet of flowers that will never wilt (and don't need watering). Roll leftover gift wrap into tight tubes and cut it into small sections to make one of- a-kind beads. Decorate the sides of old paint cans with acrylic paint and tie sturdy rope to the handles to make a pair of stilts.Along the way, Martin offers sidebars on the history of rubbish and profiles of artists whose medium is junk. She passes along important lessons about being a good steward of the Earth. But the lessons are light and fun--never preachy.Fun for kids, perfect for involved and homeschooling parents, and ideal for schoolteachers who have seen their art supply budgets slashed, "Recycled Crafts Box" shows budding artists how to make something beautiful and save the planet at the same time.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580175236
• ISBN13: 9781580175234
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Storey Publishing
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.7" x 10.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 8

Customer Reviews

Very nice!

A friend got this for my daughter and I, and a lot of the projects in it are really suited better for parents with younger children, that being said, we loved it. My daughter is almost 13 years old, and while a lot of the projects were a lot easier then she likes, they gave her ideas for doing similar things with a bit more complexity. The cardboard castle is a favorite, and she's got big plans for building her brother a dice tower now. The other thing the book had that we both liked was a lot of information about how things are recycled, and a timeline of disposable manufacturing, so we both learned from it. It's good without being overly preachy, and since it's recycled crafts, the crafts are very inexpensive to make.

Recycled Crafts Box

An excellent book to help parents teach their children the importance of recycling while having fun as a family doing the crafts! Potecting Mother Earth is a fantastic way of spending quaility family time together!

A delightful resource for rainy-day fun

Laura Martin's Recycled Crafts Box is a compilation of forty ecologically-friendly projects and activities that can be done cheaply from old things, from crafting sock puppets and cardboard castles to rag coasters and colorful picnic plate flowers. A delightful resource for rainy-day fun, artistic stimulation, and stimulating quality time to be shared with young ones. Also a highly recommended creative diversion, especially as an alternative to the ever-present press of television and other passive media.