Upcycling with the Kids
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Upcycling at home: get crafty with the kids
Children learn to appreciate the environment through arts and crafts.
Upcycling is the practice of transforming old, unused, or broken items into something new and useful.
It is different from recycling because upcycling is, in its essence a way to reduce waste, save money, and get creative with lasting projects.
Children can be taught to upcycle in fun ways.
They can create upcycling crafts by thinking of useful new ways to fill needs in their lives from old materials.
The focus of this article is not to tell you all of the “crafts” you can make with left over “stuff” you have around the house.
Many consider this upcycling, I do not.
Instead, it is to show you the difference between recycling and upcycling and to give you some ideas for upcylcing with your children.
What is upcycling?
The goal of upcycling is to minimize environmental impact and to turn old, unused, or broken items into useful products.
What is recycling?
Recycling is usually the conversion of waste materials, that would be thrown away, into new materials and objects.
Bring the family together!
Get a daily activity or thought to bring your family compassion towards each other.
Is one, recycling or upcycling better than the other?
No. Both are important.
These sound very similar, but one uses things that are still serviceable into a different product, with the goal of being long lasting.
The other, recycling, uses trash items and often needs to be re-manufactured in order to be made into another product.
What are the benefits of upcycling?
When you teach your children various ways to upcycle you show them the value of reducing waste, conserving resources, and using creativity.
You are also encouraging them to look at every item and ponder if there is a need that this product or material can fill if it is used differently.
What Kinds of materials can be upcycled?
Almost any item can be used, however, it is important to look at what the end product will be.
I looked up upcycle crafts with kids before writing this article.
A perfect bad example, in my opinion, of upcycling is using paper plates to make crafts.
None of the crafts I saw served a purpose.
Before the paper plate was “upcycled” it had a use, to be used as a plate, that it no longer served.
Yet, many upcycling with the kids articles use paper plates.
If the paper plates were used and then washed, this would be an example of recycling: trash that is repurposed.
An example that I love is used paper that is made into seeded paper.
This is also trash, however, it has a long term use-it will decompose as it grows plants or flowers.
How should my child and I get started in upcycling?
There are two ways to do this.
- Collect environment friendly materials and items that can be repurposed.
You can look around your home, thrift stores, flea markets, or garage sales. - Look at your needs. Do you need a place to store books or stuffed animals?
Look on Pinterest for an upcycling DIY Bookshelf or an upcycling DIY Stuffed Animal Organizer.
When you see an idea you and your child love and can do together, seek out these materials.
I prefer the second method, of determining a need and then finding the materials.
I just don’t want to collect a lot of stuff in my home in the hopes that someday we will come up with a project for it all.
Can my child and I do upcycling crafts?
Yes. I am of the mind that toilet paper art or paper plate art is not upcycling.
However, if you use those toilet paper rolls to be “seed starter pots” this gives the rolls a practical and needed use.
Be thinking of what is no longer useful in your home and how to artfully and creatively turn it into something that can be used.
I consider these ideas upcycled crafts:
- Old clothes or important fabrics made into a special theme quilt
- Tin can planters
- CD spinners
- Wind chimes (the material list is endless)
- Bird feeders
- Book shelves (again, the material list is endless)
- Seeded paper
- Seed starter planters
- Old fabrics turned into hair scrunches
- Bracelet and jewelry (materials can be anything from metal to fabric)
- Soap (from old small slivers)
- Coasters
- Wedding guest gifts (pins from brooches)
- Pallet furniture
- Tire swing (or rope course)
- Tire shoes (have you bought sandals in Mexico?)
All of these have a definite purpose in their new use.
Can my child and I make money with upcycling projects?
Upcycling is a hot trend!
People love knowing that they have a useful, beautiful product that gave life to something that was eventually headed to a landfill or attic.
What is your child’s interest and expertise?
Start by answering these questions and then thinking of projects that people will buy and need.
If you have a child who sews, for example, you can make quilts, sweater coats, skirts, shopping bags, and so much more from old fabrics.
Do you have a creative child who has an eye for textures and balance?
You can try something like wind chimes, unusual containers for candles or plants, or create fabric rope for things like headbands, plant hangers or to hold water bottles.
One of the best ideas, in my opinion, is to sell gift ideas.
I love recycled paper with seeds.
So, you would make the paper from paper in the recycle bin and then seed it with wild flowers that grow in the area you will be selling to.
You can shape the paper into fun shapes and sell to business, encouraging customer appreciation.
Upcycling crafts are a great way to teach children about the importance of reducing waste and caring for the environment.
DIY upcycling crafts can turn learning into fun.
Remember, the goal of upcycling is to transform old, broken, or unused items into something new and useful.
Have fun, get creative, and experiment!