Green Crafts: Recycle Used Stuff into New Gifts and Crafts

This section contains articles and links to crafty projects you can do using discarded materials or old stuff you just don't need anymore.

Find more ideas for teaching recycling at home or in the classroom with green crafts for kids.

New things from old - practical, functional, beautiful, frugal recycling!

How to Make Your Own Paper

Learn how to make gorgeous handmade paper from scraps of old paper, and color it with cast off onion skins, berries, and coffee grounds! Details: How to Make Hand Made Paper

Recycle Old Magazines into Beads

How to make paper beads from recycled magazine pages Cut thin triangular strips from magazine pages or other colorful paper scraps, apply glue and wind around a straw. Allow to dry thoroughly and string together to make beaded curtains, jewelry, key chains or ornaments. Easy and fun - a craft popular during the Depression.

How to Make Your Own Soaps

Making your own special soap from recycled soap scraps or unscented bars of soap is easy, fun and frugal. Make pretty molded gift soaps for family and friends.

child craft artist making with recycled items

Recycle Old Greeting Cards

What can you do with old greeting cards that you don't put into a scrapbook? Plenty! Frame them, use them to decorate picture frames, make a collage, cut them up to create a new card, make a poster or gift tag ... you'll find great ideas for recycling last year's greeting cards in this article, Make new gifts from old greeting cards.

Make Crafts with Plastic Lids

Make finger puppets, sun catchers, mobiles and more with discarded plastic lids from household products. Another perfect kid craft!

Crayon Scrap Candles

Melt down nibs and bits of old crayons with new wax to make lovely new candles for gifts or home use.

Fredrix Paint It Yourself Classroom Mural Canvas Roll - 60'' x 120'', Acrylic Primed

Recycled Cereal Boxes and Milk Cartons Placemat Craft

Recycle a sliced up cereal box and sliced up milk cartons to make fun place mats!

Clean out the containers, dry well, then cut the cartons into 1-inch wide strips, retaining the design from the package.

Weave the cutout carton strips together to create a mat, fasten the edges with duct tape, and VOILA! you have a sturdy place mat.

Padded Hangers Craft Project

Make softly padded hangers for hanging your clothes in the closet from old wire hangers or plastic hangers. Wrap each hanger with plastic shopping bags, tape securely, then wrap again using decorative ribbon or fabric scraps to cover the padding.

Pine Cone Crafts

How to make pine cone crafts, gifts and decorations from these bristly natural seed pods from evergreen trees.

Poetry Stones

Decorate smooth stones with painted or glued on words and art to use as garden decor, paper weights, artwork or game parts. Read this article to learn how to make Poetry Stones.

Romantic poetry stones craft