How-to: Kid-Made Recycled Cardboard Pendants

Kids love to make their own jewelry, and these pendants, crafted from upcycled cardboard, are especially fun to create and wear. The pendants cost no money, slip easily inside a letter to a pen pal, and, if the kid gets tired of wearing them, can be tossed right back into the recycling bin.

Here’s how to make them:

You will need:

• upcycled cardboard–cereal boxes and shipping boxes work well, although here we’re using old record album covers (we made record bowls with the albums inside)
• template and pencil–a jar lid or other circle, about 2″ diameter, is a good size for the template
• sturdy scissors
• hole punch–a narrow one works better at punching through thick cardboard than the standard-sized circle
• pens or markers to decorate–I HIGHLY recommend gel pens for this project, because they work on both rough and slick surfaces, and their colors really pop
• twine or embroidery thread

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