Published 23 February 2015 ● Last Updated on 6 December 2016
Last week when going through my 6-year-old son’s weekly class blog, I came across a fantastic idea which echoes very well with the value system of Secondsguru. The idea of initiating little people when they are really little into thinking about the benefits of recycling, saving the planet and telling them that the choices people make impact living things in the environment.
To get the point across, the kids had been shown videos at school about sea turtles who are sadly choking to death because of swallowing waste carelessly thrown into the sea. Seeing this, the class had decided to recycle the excessive number of Yakult bottles produced as waste in the class to make a sea turtle for their class. The tykes even knew what would happen once they moved over to a new topic: The turtle made out of plastic Yakult bottles would go into the yellow plastic recycle bin after being properly dismantled! Additionally, they are saving every bit of waste scrap paper to make their own handmade paper in school. To top it, they have all refused to carry snacks which create waste to school. [The only challenge is for the mums to find a way to send in waste-free snacks for them every day. I drew inspiration from Tips to pack a waste free meal]. Full marks to the grade teacher and the school for doing such a marvelous job of imbibing conscientious and socially aware values so early on.
Not to be left behind in the discussions, my son volunteered information about how as a family we recycle almost everything! He then told the class about www.secondsguru.com and how we have made a lot of the DIY items mentioned on the blog together as a family at home. [Tissue box to Robot, Toilet paper to Halloween candy holder, Newspaper to printed wrappers, Boring to attractive file holder]. Before I knew what I was getting into, I was in school to help kids do a craft activity and make a Valentine’s day gift for their parents using items which were all going to be binned anyway [barring the paints, ruler & glue of course :-)].
The gift: Wire organizers in a box
Items: Used toilet paper rolls, old magazines, glue, ruler, paint, old newspaper, old shoe box, used A4 paper
Wire organizers:
- Paint the toilet paper roll and set it to dry.
- Once dry, tear out strips of paper from the magazine and stick it either on the top and bottom edge of the toilet paper roll [as in the picture] or all around in a swirl.
- Cut out a small strip from the used A4 paper and stick on the roll for labeling the wire it will hold. [For example, iPhone 6 charger, Blackberry charger and so on.]
Storage box:
- Take two sheets of newspaper and spread out on a flat base.
- Make patterns with paint on your palms and start printing. If you are feeling artistic, then just use your fingers to make patterns. Once the paper is adequately colourful, set it aside to dry.
- Once the paint on the paper is dry, use it to wrap the shoe box. By doing that, the brand name and other not very pretty parts of the show box get covered.
- Label the decorated box “wire organiser” or, as these little ones did, “wire tidy box”!
How to use the gift?
Fold up individual wires at home or in office in multiple loops [each loop 3-4 inches in length] and place one in each decorated toilet paper roll. Label the roll as per the wire it holds. Arrange neatly in the erstwhile shoe, now very pretty, storage box!
Say bye bye to messy wire days.
This is an easy art and craft activity to do with kids at home on a rainy day or just to keep them busy over the school holiday break. Instead of using newspaper, you can just use leftover wrapping paper or used wrapping paper to decorate the box. Try it out! Its lots of fun!
Related Article: Toilet Paper roll Halloween Candy Holders
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