Recycling Materials for Future Craft Projects

You can be a great example to your kids and show them what recycling is really all about on a personal level that they can help implement. Start saving items that you might normally discard that can be used for some of the fun projects here on Ziggity Zoom.

Although most of the preschool craft projects here at Ziggity Zoom make use of inexpensive materials, by saving items that you might normally dispose of not only will you be recycling but saving money as well. Save items in a tucker tote or cardboard box marked "craft projects" but always be sure to wash and thoroughly dry any containers or lids that were for food products. These are some of the things to start saving:

Yogurt cups/ lids
Plastic caps
Egg Cartons
Toilet paper tubes
Corks
Stray socks
Buttons
Bottle Caps
Extra straws

To inspire even more creativity, ask your kids if they have any of their own ideas for using some of the collected, recycled materials. Maybe they will want to make a free-form robot, monster or mermaid. Encourage them to do this and praise them for their efforts. Children's art has such a wonderful, naive quality to it. It is actually one of my favorite art forms.


It's amazing what wonderful creations can be made from discarded and saved items. From our activities section you can choose fun things to make, such as a pirate or princess castle from toilet paper tubes, a colorful bowling set from fast-food drink containers, or a cute puppy sock puppet from a stray sock. Be sure to check out the projects in detail and to check back often as new projects will be added regularly and you might find some new materials to start recycling!

Switch to Cute Kid-Friendly Cloth Napkins for your Kids and Family and Save Money and the Planet

Does your family go through a ton of paper towels and napkins?

Here is an easy way to save money and help out the environment at the same time. Buy 1-3 packs of brightly colored, cotton cloth napkins, bar towels or wash clothes and a few dish towels. Use the small cloth napkins or towels for your family at breakfast, lunch and dinner instead of using paper towels or paper napkins and use a dish towel to dry hands after washing them. Just remember to switch out the hand towel daily for a clean one and let air dry between uses. The cloth napkins are great because you can let kids pick their own color or assign a favorite color to everyone in the family. Just make sure to have enough to get through several meals before you have to wash them. At my house some of the cloth napkins need to be washed after 1 use and others can be used again before being washed.

The cost breakdown- the average family goes through several rolls of paper towels a month. My family was using at least 1 roll of paper towels every week and some weeks we were going through them even faster. In an average year, we spend $60.00-80.00 on paper towels and create several trash cans full of trash from those paper towels. By using cloth napkins and dish towels, in place of paper towels most of the time, you can cut down on your trash, your monthly cost for paper products and help to reduce our use of paper goods that come from forests.

The cost for dish towels varies but you can get a 7 piece kitchen towel set from Target for $14.99 or a 3 pack of kitchen towels (trendy designs) for $6-15.00 and there are less expensive options available if you buy a set of white no-nonsense bar towels for a few dollars. I would recommend having at least 7 on hand so you can easily replace a dirty one with a clean towel or wipe up a spill with an extra towel. So, for between $15.00-$30.00 (if you buy 2 packs) you can cut down on the amount of paper products you are buying and using. The cute cloth bar towels in the picture were from Target and ran about $4-5 for a pack of 4 towels/napkins.
If you are already a smart shopper and wait until the dish towels or napkins are on sale and use a coupon, you can probably get enough napkins to last the week for next to nothing. Or for those of you that are very crafty and handson, you could take an older towel or sheet and cut it up into enough napkins for the week- but you will have to finish off the edges.