Jul

The Green MacGyver: Resourceful Eco Friendly Crafts For Kids

By Angela

christmas-shoebox The Green MacGyver is all about using ordinary materials that might normally be thrown away or recycled and creating unorthodox solutions to the consumption problems we face. Our next example is a keepsake storage box which uses birthday/Christmas cards and a shoe box. Children love to have secret boxes of their own and this one makes use of what would otherwise be waste. There are three R’s to recycling and all the entries in our Green MacGyver eco friendly crafts for kids series will recognize the importance of “REUSE”.

What you’ll need for our greeting card storage box eco friendly children’s craft project:

Shoe Box
Paint
Used Greeting Cards
Glue

Instructions:
Paint the outside of the shoe box with the desired color, red or green would be great for Christmas cards. Try to match the paint with the pictures you would like to use. You can also use a paper mache box available at most crafts stores but I would say to use a show box if it is available. It’s much more eco-responsible to use what we have.

Let the paint dry.

Cut out the picture or scene on the front of several greeting cards that you like most. Arrange the pictures or scenes on the sides and top of the shoe box to cover as much of it as possible. You can overlap them or spread them out depending on how many pictures you have or want. You can also try to create scenes with the pictures. Glue them into place and let the glue dry completely. You can also use pictures from magazine to make box dedicated to a child’s favorite sports or cartoon character.

Using watered-down glue, paint over the box to seal it. You should use approximately 1 part glue to 1 part water. You can also use Modge-Podge or any other decoupage medium or you can use this watered down. Apply 2 - 3 coats to make sure each coat dries completely before adding the next.

There you have it. A personal keepsake box for kids made by kids and it encourages imagination and resourcefulness. Two qualities that can only serve both adults and kids well.

Check back soon for the next installment of the Green McGyver. If you have any ecofriendly crafts for kids to share, please pass them along. We’d love to share them with our readers. Remember it has to use items that would otherwise be thrown away or recycled. That’s the rules