In the World of Play, Trash is Treasure

Spring has final sprung and everyone is in the midst of cleaning out their closets.  What may seem like trash to a grown up can be a hidden treasure in the eyes of a young child.  Some items that you might find are old shoes, clothes, boxes, and bottles.  Also, as we cook our meals and go about daily life, we create a lot of trash that can be used for many rainy day projects.  These materials include paper towel rolls, boxes, egg cartons, and packing materials.  In the child care field, we’ve learned to become very creative with material not often associated with art projects.

You are probably wondering what you could possibly do with all these items.  Here are several suggestions to get you started:

Use the old shoes to create a portable flower garden for along your walkway.   Simply get some flowers and plant them using the shoes as pots.

Use a favorite shirt that your child has outgrown to make bean bags for learning.  Cut several squares of fabric and staple or sew three edges together.  Fill the square with dried beans and sew the remaining side.  Finally, use paint or marker to put letters, number or shapes on each bean bag.  Once you have created the bean bags—make it into a fun game by tossing them and naming the object on the bag.

Turn socks that can not seem to find their mates into simple sock puppets.  A few loose buttons, markers and fabric scraps can turn any sock into a fun and exciting new addition to playtime.

Tissue boxes have many uses but my toddler loves discovering things.  Cover an empty tissue box with wrapping paper or fabric (use an old piece of clothing).  Then hide small toys in the box for your child to touch and discover.  Have the child guess what is inside.

The little boys will love making dinosaur feet using tissue boxes and egg cartons.  First take two flat tissue boxes and cover them with construction paper or paint.  Then use 3 of the egg holders from the egg carton to make the toes on each foot.  Glue or tape them on.  Finally, have your child put on the dinosaur feet and walk around “Roaring”.

Beverage bottles are great for children to explore their senses.  You can put a large number of objects inside of them to create discovery bottles.  Water and glitter make a nice snow globe.  Water and a little soap will create bubbles when they shake it.  Water and vegetable oil makes waves.  A bottle with dry rice or beans makes a shaker.  Remember to glue the lids so there are no spills.

So the next time you are about to throw something away, think about what we do in preschool and what your child could do with it as a fun project to develop their creativity and senses.