Extra paper plates, plastic plates and plastic cups can be used for crafts.
Children love to eat off paper plates or plastic plates and they don’t mind drinking out of plastic cups, probably because doing so provides a picnic or party feel. There is another reason more and more kids are enjoying such items, though.
Arts and crafts that use these as the main materials are becoming increasingly popular among families and school teachers – especially in this economy where everyone is trying to save money.
In fact, there are now several books and internet sites devoted solely to the creation of crafts from common household materials. Below are some favorites.
Create a simple bird feeder from two plastic plates and the cardboard tube found in the middle of a roll of paper towels. Simply glue a large plastic plate over one opening of the paper towel roll and glue a smaller plastic plate to the other end. Now punch two holes on opposite sides of the larger plastic plate. Run a string through the holes and tie a knot on each end. Fill the smaller plate with birdseed and loop the string over a tree branch or plant hanger and wait for the chirpers.
Make a polar bear serving dish out of white paper plates, white Styrofoam bowls, and five white plastic cups. Turn the paper plates upside down and glue the bottom of the styrofoam bowl to the bottom of the inverted plate. Now cut slits in the bottoms of four small plastic cups and slide the edge of the paper plate into the slits in the four cups, arranging the cups at 90 degree angles. Cut a similar slit in the mouth of a larger plastic cup that will be used as a head and slide it onto the rim of the plate. Now take a magic marker and draw a bear face on the base of the larger cup and claws in the smaller plastic cups. The last thing left to do is fill the bowl with your favorite snack.
Make your own holiday decorations like a winter snow man out of papers plates and save money. Glue the rim of a medium-sized plate to the rim of a larger one. Then take an inverted paper or plastic bowl and glue it to the opposite side of the smaller paper plate. Glue some cotton balls to each plate to give the snow man a snowy texture. Take a magic marker and draw a snowman face on the bottom of the bowl. Finally, use glue to attach pipe cleaners to the smaller plate to form the snowman’s arms.
Art not only fosters the creative minds in children, it’s also a wonderful way to spend extra special time with youngsters. So go ahead and purchase those paper plates, plastic plates and plastic cups in bulk. You might also want to pick up an extra refrigerator, too, so there will be a place to hang all the new creations.