Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Trash to Treasure

I was very excited to hear that Alexis' Kindergarten teacher gave the children a "Trash to Treasure" project for Earth Day.  She gave about two weeks notice (awesome!) which allowed us to think about alot of potential projects.  The problem was narrowing it down.  Here are some of the ideas Alexis and I initially considered:

Cup holder from large yogurt container
Magazine holder from cereal box
Nature wreath from things found outside with cardboard box backing
Flowers and other decorations made out of recycled boxes and paper
Purse made out of recycled containers
Garden irrigation system from soda and milk bottles
Handmade cards from recycled items around the house (boxes, mail packaging, etc.)
and more...

She finally got pretty excited over the pencil/crayon/marker holder idea.  Here she is with her three recycled items: a cardboard scrap from old box, cereal box, an old 2009 calendar that I had kept for the pretty pictures (we often use old calendars to make envelopes from or decorate things with).
Here she is marking the cereal box with a ruler to know where to cut.  We used one cereal box for all 3 pencil holders (and recycled the scraps of course!).
 She was a little too excited to use big scissors (first time!) but the little kid scissors didn't work very well on the cereal box.  Needless to say there was a lot of parental supervision on this part of the project to ensure all fingers remained intact!
 Maybe it's because kids just love Christmas so much but this Christmas scene for the month of December from the old calendar was the first picture she picked.
 She is starting to see her project take shape and is getting pretty excited about it and telling me how she is going to make one for everyone she knows for Christmas this year or for their birthday or "maybe you know, just because they are my friend".
 Posing with her completed "Trash to Treasure" project.  Very happy recycler indeed!
Do you have any fun "Trash to Treasure" projects to share?  Let me know!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Keep Prince William Beautiful

Check out page 24 of April's Prince William Living magazine for my latest article.  Since it's Earth Day this month and a topic right up my alley, see what I say about the local nonprofit organization "Keep Prince William Beautiful" and some green tips.