Thanksgiving food crafts let you get crafty for the holiday without adding a ton of junk to the waste stream.
There is so much going on, food-wise, for Thanksgiving that adding a whole other component of holiday decorating–much less the crafting required to make those decorations!–can sometimes just be too much.
This upcycled cardboard building set is a terrific open-ended toy that won’t cost you a cent!
This Tower of Hanoi is NOT made from plastic! Instead, it’s made from that likely-looking piece of corrugated cardboard hanging out there in your recycling bin. Cut it up, add some decorations, and you’ll have yourself a brand-new version of a 140-year-old logic game.
You don’t need another set of plastic game pieces kicking around your home, though. Instead, here’s how to make any set of polyominoes that you want from sturdy, upcycled, recyclable cardboard.
Homemade games add an extra-fun element to any indoor play. You can customize your homemade games to perfectly suit the interests and current abilities of your kids, and older kids can even help with their creation.
This is a great way to use up small scraps from your recent projects, and especially other projects that you’ve sewn for these same kids.
In the past year we’ve been blessed with lots of new kid-craft books that use eco-friendly methods and materials, and have the explicit intention of encouraging children and their caregivers to live green lifestyles. Here are my favorites!
There are so many ways to create your own building block sets, so many ways to embellish old or thrifted block sets to make them playable in an all-new way, and so many ways to upcycle blocks so that you can enjoy them in brand-new ways.
Whether you’re refurbishing a kid’s hand-me-down building blocks for a new generation, or adding new interest to a current toy, painting building blocks is an excellent way to turn an old toy into something brand-new and exciting.
Here’s how to deep clean wooden building blocks and simple wooden toys, how to refurbish them, and even how to polish them up so they look beautiful and fancy and like the high-quality heirlooms that they are.
Take a few pages out of the camp counselor handbook and check out my list of my favorite summer camp-style crafts. They’re all highly kid-approved, and you can very likely source all the necessary supplies from around your house, yard, or recycling bin.
This DIY yarn tassel is the perfect outdoor craft when it’s beautiful outside, and also a pretty terrific indoor craft when outside sucks.
Cardboard is one of my favorite crafting supplies because it’s so accessible and so versatile. It’s easy to cut with a craft knife or a sturdy pair of scissors, it holds great with hot glue or duct tape, it takes paint like a champ, and it’s got great structure to support all kinds of weird, costume-y elements and accessories.
If you, too, love foxes so much that one could eat somebody you love and you’d still forgive it, then I have your next Halloween project. Or convention cosplay. Or, you know, just dress-up outfit–I’m not here to judge you.
Here are my favorite super soft, super bulky, super fun projects to make using baby blanket yarn. Some of these projects are even baby blankets!
Help the Tooth Fairy do her job by making your kid a sweet little homemade Tooth Fairy pillow or Tooth Fairy pocket.
Check out this list of my own favorite eco-friendly Halloween crafts, and get inspired!
Don’t let outgrown building blocks languish unloved in a back closet, not when there are so many beautiful ways to upcycle them!
Kids LOVE puppets, and hand puppets are one of the best ways to keep them entertained on a rainy day.
Check out the list of awesome construction paper crafts below, and find YOUR next project!
Fingerpainting is a wonderful activity for the little ones, and it’s even better when you realize that you don’t have to bother with store-bought fingerpaints for the kids to have a great time.
Baby quilts are a great intro to quilting, as their smaller size makes them a less time-consuming (and SUPER satisfying!) project to complete.
From button signs to bird nests, there are tons of eco-friendly projects to make to help you celebrate Spring!
We made chewing gum for YOU, Friends. And gummies, all for your entertainment and edification.
Each project uses upcycled materials in its making, so that it’s eco-friendly (and cheap to make!) and has a full tutorial so that you can easily DIY your pet its newest, funnest plaything.
It can be challenging to maintain an eco-friendly lifestyle when you have kids.
I love some outdoor summer fun, but sometimes you need a little indoor project to beat the heat. This cute little no-sew felt owl is a perfect way to take a break from the summer swelter.
Holidays don’t have to be yet another excuse to buy a bunch of nonsense and waste a bunch of resources.
These Easter cupcakes are so cute and so delicious – no one will guess that they’re totally vegan!
