A New Arts & Crafts Project: Using Junk Mail for a Scrap Book

Does it seem like the junk mail is starting to pile up. Are the people in your family and household pack rats that keep everything they get in the mail because they think they might need it one day? I have two possible solutions for creative projects for your junk mail and better ways to organize your papers as well.

The first idea that I have that allows you to get organized is to buy plastic shelves from Staples or a department store and label each shelf by the person's name in the family. Each person should get their own shelf. Keep these shelves in a central location in the house like on a mantel or near the computer in the house. Allow each person to organize the papers on their own shelf and be responsible for them. That way, the children aren't constantly saying, "Mom, where's my homework assignment?"

The next idea that I have is much more interesting and exciting. It is a project that I started with my family that we got so wrapped up in, we seemed to lose track of time as the night flew by. The idea is to categorize the junk mail in any random method. For example, since the junk mail project was started with my family when I first began applying to colleges, I had many college brochures and pamphlets that I no longer needed. So we decided to create a scrap book of college using the pictures from the brochures and pamphlets and we created our own college with various activities. We competed against each other to see who had the best imaginary college by using the junk mail.

Another idea is to save the images from various magazines and junk mail items that you get and store them in a box in the attic or basement. You never know when your child will need to do an arts and crafts project and junk mail magazines often come in very handy when you least expect it. Many grade school teachers, especially those who teach very young children, have their students use collogues to learn the alphabet or new words. A great example was when my friend's younger brother had to cut out pictures from magazines about the sports and activities that he likes to do. So, he cut out famous sports players that he watched on television and cut out famous cartoon characters that he watched on television.

So if you are looking for an activity for the entire family to enjoy, look no further than your own house where your trash might become valuable.