Repurpose Crafting to Inspire Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills in Toddlers

Allow your toddlers to create works of art, while learning problem-solving skills, as supplies are recycled, repurposed, and then wonderfully decorated. Here are some fun crafts you and your toddler can make together, almost from nothing!

Similar to free-play time at the park, your little one will proceed to engage in as many activities as you make available to them. If you provide the supervision, and colorful supplies in a variety of shapes and textures, your toddler will know just what to do with them.

Preparation & Supervision

Before starting, be sure the recycled supplies you provide for your toddler are clean. It is also important that you supervise your toddler throughout the art process, and may enjoy creating right along with them, teaching the proper usage of art supplies and tools. Your toddler's high-chair is the perfect art station, with built-in spill-proof edges, and other essential safety features needed to keep your baby focused on sculpting and decorating.

Repurposed Egg-Carton Sculptures

Plastic or cardboard egg cartons can be cut apart, leaving the flat top to organize and hold supplies. Cut apart all the individual egg cups to paint, decorate, and sculpt into various-shaped items.

Potted Flowers & Hawaiian Leis

Colorfully paint individually-cut egg cups (inside and out), with child-safe, non-toxic paint, and allow to dry. As colorful flowers they can be strung together, stacking the flowers one inside the other for a Hawaiian lei. Poke holes at the base of the flower, and string together with twine, yarn, or ribbon, to tie behind the neck.

By repurposing small flowerpots (thoroughly cleaned out) and adding pipe-cleaner stems to your egg-cup flowers, position and secure into Easter-grass filled pots. The flower pots can also be painted or decorated prior to adding grasses and flowers.

Barrel Shaped Crafts

Adjoin two egg cups (open ends together) with glue, and allow to dry, before painting or decorating. This will create a versatile barrel shape to paint, decorate, or papier-mâché. They can be stacked together like building blocks, fashioned into enormous beads for necklace-stringing, become Christmas-tree ornaments, or furry/feathered baby creatures.

Baby Chicks or Birds

Provide your toddler with small, brightly colored craft feathers to glue onto egg-carton shapes, for creating baby birds or chicks. Dot-on the eyes with a black marker pen, then make a small beak by rolling a scrap of bright-colored paper into a cone, and gluing it onto the face. Making baby-chick "peeping" sounds (along with other barnyard-animal sounds) is always encouraged.

Painted Blocks & Beads

Paint egg-cup barrels with splashes of color, and when dry, dab on a coat of polka-dots, stripes, numbers or alphabet letters. This would be a good time to introduce the A, B, C - "Alphabet" song.

With numbers and letters you will open up a new world to your toddler, encouraging math and spelling skills. String blocks together to create an over-sized beaded necklace, using a satin ribbon, for dress-up fun.

Christmas-Tree Ornaments

Cover egg-cup barrels with foil, jab a hole at one end for a pipe-cleaner loop, and hang on the Christmas tree. Other suggestions would be painting with sparkly glitter paints, or painting and immediately sprinkling with loose glitter. Allow your child to do the painting, but you do the glitter-sprinkling (out of baby's reach)!

Don't worry about creating a model beforehand, unless you want to. Plan ahead if you're going to make several of the same items, as with the over-sized beaded necklace, or Christmas-tree ornaments. Then have fun teaching your child repurposed arts and crafts, to encourage problem-solving skills, and creative recycling.