Litter Bug



This cute fellow can come right out of your recycle bin.



You will need:
Raid your recycle bin and use your imagination! We used newspapers, straws, a bottle cap, a jar lid, and a paper hole punch from our hole puncher.
Also, have handy: yarn or string, googly eyes, marker and glue.

How to:
The key to this craft is using your imagination to make your litter bug look however you want it to look. We started by balling up the newspaper and securing it with string. Straws became legs, caps became hats, more yarn became hair.

Attach googly eyes a nose and a smile and you are set.

Thoughts:
What better way to teach about recycling than to show a child how to reuse something? I took the opportunity to teach Elliott a bit about caring for the Earth and explaining the concept of "Litterbug" to him. (Thank you Wall-e, as well!!) That came back to me when, a few days after doing this craft, we were walking into the grocery store behind some rather, er, tough looking characters who threw some trash on the ground. Elliott, having witnessed this pronounced loudly, to anyone within hearing distance (including said offenders), "Mommy, they're Litterbugs! Litterbugs!!!!" 

Yay, him. Boo, them. I have actually seen Elliott pick up trash off the ground and throw it away. Ironically, he has no problem throwing it on the floor in our house.

Almost a year later, and this little guy still gets some playing time.

Elliott's Edict:
We still have it. I liked putting the straws on it. And the smile. And the googly eyes. And the two hats. Two! That was a good craft.

Earth Day Tote

Get on the Tote Bag bandwagon with an Earth Day tote!

You will need:

• A tote bag (We found our's in the dollar bin at Micheal's Crafts, but you may want to shell out for a higher quality bag if you'll be using it often.)
• Blue and green felt sheets
• Fabric glue
• Earth pattern
• Circle shaped plate that will fit on bag (for tracing)
• Black marker

How to:

Trace around the plate to make Earth.



The simplier the pattern, the better!

1. Trace the plate onto the blue felt. This will be your Earth. Place blue sheet on top of green and cut circle out of both sheets of felt.
2. Draw an Earth pattern on the green felt. Remember, the simplier the better! Cut pieces out and arrange on blue circle. When placed to your liking, glue backs with fabric glue.
3. Glue Earth onto bag. Let dry.

Thoughts:

Who knew OnDemand had a Craft Channel? That's where I found the idea for this project. We were on our Earth Day (Earth Week) kick and we (try) to use reusable shopping bags often, so I thought this would be a fun one.  I originally thought Elliott could use this as his Library bag, but the dollar bin material is not very book friendly, so we use ours to carry lighter loads now.

The highlight of this craft (for me) was discovering that Elliott was perfectly capable of doing something I didn't think him capable of...tracing. I handed him the marker and asked him to "pose" with it so I could take a picture and he started to trace the plate himself. Lesson learned, on my part. I now always let him give something a try on his own before I step in to help.

Elliott's Evaluation:

Can we do that again? I love doing that because you can carry it on your arm. I like to carry toys in my bag.

Earth Sun Catcher

A simple introduction to the Mother Planet 

You will need:

• Coffee filters (you'll be working on the smooth, inner circle)
• Blue and green food coloring
• Earth pattern (optional)
• Plate

How's that Earth pattern working out for you, E?

How to:

1. The directions I found online for this craft stated that you should place drops of food coloring in the pattern of the Earth, green for land and blue for sea. I say go ahead and try just that and when you have finished laughing hysterically after your failed attempts, do this: 2 drops of green on each side of the filter and 5-6 drops of blue sprinkled along the middle. The drops will spread and meet up. It may not look exactly like Earth, but we are talking kid's crafts here.
2. Let dry.
3. Trim edges of filter so that only center circle remains.
4. Hang in a sunny window.

Thoughts:
Thanks to Wall-e and The Three R's song by Jack Johnson, Elliott is obsessed with recycling. Since Earth Day was approaching, I decided to introduce him to some Earthy crafts.

I still find it incredibly amusing that the original directions suggested placing drops in an Earth pattern. Next to impossible, even if you aren't three years old! We made several of these and only one semi-looked like Earth, but they all looked nice and even if not geographically correct, you could tell what the general idea was.

Elliott's Evaluation:
I love those because you hang them in the window.