20 Creative Recycled Craft Ideas from Waste Material

Inspiration to get creative can come from anywhere including your very own recycle bin. Departs from that idea, today’s article is going to present 20 creative craft ideas from waste material. So, here’s the deal. It’s not only you can get rid of those unused things, but also repurpose them to be functional again.

How are you going to do that? Well, this article will tell you how. Keep on reading to find out!

1. Animal Circus Train

Creative Craft Circus Train
train.buildgood.site

Animal circus train is made out of mere tea boxes and duct tape. Choose duct tapes with various colors and patterns. The tapes do two jobs of decorating the trains and strengthening them all at once. Since you don’t need the top part of the boxes, make the train wheels out of them. Each car of the train needs at least 4 wheels.

Secure each wheel onto the car using brad. Punch small holes in both ends of the cars to connect them with each other using lanyard. After putting in some animal toys, it’s done.

2. Building Logs

Creative Craft Building Logs
jeuxipad.info

Building logs are made of paper towel cardboard tubes or recycled toilet paper. Paint all the rolls in your preferable colors and let them sit to dry after that. Make a notch on one side or both for each roll. Do it to all of the rolls and they’re ready to be stacked. Every time you run out of tissue paper, that’s when you have some new logs.

3. Camera

Creative Craft Camera
letsdosomethingcrafty.com

This camera is made from an old egg box. Aside from the box, you also need some felt to cover the front part of the box and to be accessories, paint, yarn to make a neck ring, cotton wool to stuff the camera later, cardboard to keep the cotton wool inside the camera, and lastly, scissors.

You need one of these two tools also: glue gun or stapler to secure the felt onto the box. The use of glue and staple is similar. Please choose whichever tool you find the best. As it is covered by the felt, people won’t know that this camera toy is made from an old egg box. If they wonder, show the magic!

4. Binoculars

Creative Craft Binoculars
crafthubs.com

This pair of binoculars is made out of toilet paper tubes which are so easy to make. As it’s easy, you will only need around 5 minutes to make a pair. You can invite your little ones also. Besides toilet paper tubes, you are going to also need scrapbook papers to cover the whole tube, scissors, and hot glue gun.

Since their purpose is to be a see-through tool, it’s best to keep them hanging on your neck. And you’ll need yarn string to be a neck ring and hole puncher to make some space for the string. Make sure the string is long enough to avoid any accident.

5. Pirate Ship

Creative Craft Pirate Ship
amandamedlin.com

This pirate ship is made of cardboard box. Spare less than one hour of your time to create it with your kids. You need the absolute cardboard box, glue gun to stick all the pieces, pencil, black marker, ruler, craft knife, twine, fabric to make the sail, and twigs to hold the sail. Use pencil, ruler, and black marker to draw the ship on the cardboard.

You need to prepare four pieces to make a complete ship: two sides, a base, and a back. After the ship’s hull is solid, it’s time to make the fit-outs. It includes the mast, cabin, the sail, plank, and also cannon holes. Do not really make holes, draw circles to indicate cannon is enough.

6. Play Kitchen

Creative Craft Play Kitchen
fromakindergartenteachersdesk.blogspot.com

Play kitchen is a set of kitchen utilities made of cardboards and simple duct tape. The size of kitchen set you’re going to make is the perfect size for your 18-month-old little ones. To make a refrigerator and a stove, you only need a large box. And the construction is simply according to your imagination. Cut and tape are what you need to do in this stage.

After the shape and form of the stove and fridge start to look like how you want, decorate them as you desire is what comes next. You can also make some extra items, like pot, from the cardboard scraps.

7. Princess Castles

Creative Craft Princess Castles
mommyunderground.com

This princess castles are made out of shoeboxes. The project is totally suitable for little girls of 4 years old and above. If we also count the drying time, then the making process takes three days to completion. But the joy they’ll show will be beyond imagination.

What you need besides shoeboxes to make this lovely project are scissors, cutter, Elmer’s glue, recycled materials (tissue paper rolls, popsicle sticks, corks, bottle caps, wooden spools, and others), tempera paints, paint brush, string, and lastly, colored tapes.

8. Bow and Arrow

Creative Craft Bow
artxplorez.com

These bow and arrow are made of popsicle sticks. This cool project is a creative idea, not boring, and fun to make. The result is also functional. Overall, it’s very fascinating. You’ll need wide Popsicle stick, a pot, a drinking glass, rubber band, glue and scissors, toothpicks, and also cardstock.

The first step is to boil the Popsicle stick for 30 minutes. Please take note, you should not let your kids do this stage by themselves unwatched and unguided. After 30 minutes, let it cool so that you can bend to shape an arch. Put the bended stick in a drinking glass so that it stays on shape and dries. Let it sit overnight before remove it from the glass.

Cut the rubber bands and glue the ends. It’s time to make the arrows out of the cardstock. Cut two little triangles and glue a toothpick in between. Cut two chevron shapes also and glue to the other toothpick end. Let the glue dry before they’re ready to launch.

9. Building Structures

Creative Craft Straw Building
conditionaldesign.org

Let’s build some structures with straws. You can use this craft later for teaching about basic geometry to your kids. Pipe cleaners and scissors are the other materials you need beside straws to create this. But here’s the deal. Since the purpose of this project is to recycle, you must not use a pack of new straws. Only used straws are allowed.

Cut the straws into identical sizes for the first step. The pipe cleaners do magic here. They are the ones which make the 3D structures sturdy. And that’s done.

10. Drums

Creative Craft Drums
itsalwaysautumn.com

Let your kids to have fun by playing drums made from tin cans. Any size of them will not be a matter. Coffee cans, soup cans, sardine cans; all of them will work as great. Other materials needed are wrapping paper, ribbon, electrical tape, hot glue gun, crayons, markers, and balloons. The rest will depend on your creativity.

11. Art Smock

Creative Craft Smock
simplifycreateinspire.com

This art smock is an easy type made from stained old shirt which needs no sewing at all. It is so easy to the extent it only needs less than five minutes to make one. No sewing machine required, only an old shirt in adult size, scissors, a piece of your kids’ shirt to guide the size, and a little pins.

With the guidance of your kids’ shirt and the pins, remove the rest of the adult’s by cutting the unneeded parts. Make the ties by cutting a little bit of the shirts’ each sides. And it’s finished! Wear it when your little ones want to craft some creation.

12. First Aid Kit

Creative Craft 1st Aid Kit
survival-mastery.com

This first aid kit can be made out of baby wipes container. It is for travelling size, so don’t forget to stuff with the necessary first aids, such as neosporin, band aids, cleansing cloths, burn ointment, etc, and bring it along with you wherever you go.

Actually, there are other functions for this baby wipes container. Some of them are earring travel case, building block box to store the toys, recipe box to manage all your printable recipes collection, yarn holder, and organizational containers to neatly store your stationeries.

13. Birdhouse

Creative Craft Birdhouse
quiltsandartbycheryl.blogspot.com

Some humanity is required nowadays and your kids need to have that. Teach them from the very basic like caring for fellow living things. This birdhouse made from plastic jar can be a great example to start planting humanity on your little ones.

You’re going to require a small plastic jar like that of peanut butter’s, dowel for bird footing, string or wire, and hot glue or waterproof glue. Make sure to watch and guide your kids well in crafting this, because cutting things is involved.

14. Cutlery Holder

Creative Craft Cutlery Holder
theflowzone.net

Some good cutlery holders which are available for purchase in stores come a little bit pricey. Some says great quality does come with great price. For certain things, it is suitably applied. But let’s break the statement by creating high quality cutlery holders out of recycled tin cans and old handbag.

Other materials that you’ll need besides cans and bags are enamel paint in your color preference, pine block, sandpaper and grinding stone to remove any sharp thorns, hammer and wire nail to make holes, as well as screws and screw cups. You can get these materials and tools at local store building.

You need the old handbag to get some leather to be the handle and labels later. With this, you can bring it to entertain some guests both indoor and outdoor.

15. T-Shirt Tote Bag

Creative Craft Tote Bag
howcast.com

You may also enjoy reading this 20 Unique Embroidery Floss Project Ideas to Challenge Your Creativity

This is another no sewing fabric project. You’re going to make a tote bag this time around, from an old t-shirt in 10 minutes short period of time. Super easy! You only need scissors alongside the old t-shirt, and an optional washable marker.

Here’s how. Cut off the sleeves and the neckline area. Decide the bag depth. Cut some fringes and tie them. And that’s done! Voila!

16. Desk Organizers

Creative Craft Organizer
oudanser.co

Unorganized used boxes actually can be organizers themselves. With a little magic here and there, and a lot of creativity, that can happen—definitely. First, you have to know what supplies needed to begin the wonder. They are cereal boxes, toilet paper rolls, wood plaques, mod podge washout, and acrylic paint in your selected colors.

You also need to prepare scrapbook paper for covering the rolls and boxes, ribbon in harmonized colors, scissors, craft knife and glue, paint brush, pencil, ruler and lastly, tape. You are going to do a lot to make a complete set of these desk organizers. But mainly, the work will be around, cutting, measuring, gluing, and painting.

Decoupage technique is used in the project, but it’s optional. Covering the while set with some scrapbook paper and colorful duct tapes is enough.

17. Magnets

Creative Craft Magnet
gorishelena.blogspot.com

Life hacks are able to be some crafts, too. These magnets made from bottle caps are the examples. Rather than leaving them scattered everywhere after being removed from the bottles, it’s better to make them into some use, or in other words: let’s repurpose them. The work is as simple as hot gluing a magnet onto the inner side of a bottle cap. And that’d be everything.

18. Dust Scoop

Creative Craft Dust Scoop
instructables.com

Milk jugs are just nothing when it’s used and empty. Sorry, that’s so wrong. You can repurpose the used and empty milk container into something handy. Take dust scoop for instance. The only thing you will need is scissors and the only work you will do is to cut the container.

Cut it in such a way so that the handle of the container becomes the handle of the scoop and the side below the handle becomes the pan. Magical! You only need, what, 1 minute to make it? 2 minutes, perhaps? Well, surely in no time!

19. Mini Pocket Notebook

Creative Craft Pocket Notebook
the-room-mom.com

This is another example of repurposing cereal boxes. Here’s how. You’re going to need these supplies: a cereal box to be the notebook cover, papers, wrapping paper for covering the spine, scissors, ruler and pen, glue stick, needle and embroidery floss, and lastly, a button.

For this project, the cereal box can be replaced by cardstock, gift box, or cardboard. From one whole cereal box, you can make up to two notebooks.

20. Drawer Dividers

Creative Craft Drawer Divider
craftstorageideas.com

After all the crafts you’ve executed so far, one big problem you have to face after being so creative must be the cleaning-up part! To take all the art supplies back to where you get them is hard labor for sure. All the energy is wasted from creating the crafts. But, there won’t be a problem if all the supplies are neatly managed from the very start.

So, why don’t you make these drawer dividers out of cereal box? It’s simple, affordable, and surely satisfying. Gather around pretty papers, regular and double-sided tapes, pencil, scissors, box cutter, and yard sticks, as they are the materials you need to make dividers. Cut, shape, and cover are the only works to do.

Well done! You’ve reached the bottom of today’s article about creative craft ideas from waste material. Have a fun time crafting!

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