Sometimes we’re in the mood to craft, but haven’t a single idea! What to do? Hit up the recycle bin for inspiration.

Today, we created this Family Car for the Playmobil toys out of:

- an empty juice bottle
- ribbon holders
- styrofoam food tray
- 2 straws
- chopsticks, from takeout
- foam balls
- ribbon
- felt

The rundown:

We made a hole in the top for passengers, then taped 2 straws to the bottom of the bottle, pushed the chopsticks through the straws and secured to our ribbon-holder wheels with a dab of glue.

Next, we cut the styrofoam tray into rectangular shapes for seats and used some felt and ribbon to add flare.

Since there was lots of adult help for this project, we decided to use the hot glue gun to secure the embellishments since it bonds well with plastic.

** Have an adult cut any necessary holes with a sharp kitchen or craft knife **

Save a box and make a toy!

This is a great gloomy-day/sick-day activity for children because it takes up a lot of time, but you’re having so much fun you don’t really notice it pass. It’s so easy to get wrapped up collecting tidbits from around the house and adding the little details that will make playing with your finished project so much fun!

All you need to get started is an old box, scissors, some glue or modge-podge, magazine clippings & paint. Where you go from there is up to you…

Help kids get started by deciding on a theme… Castle, Jungle, City, or Pirate Island (like us!) Draw a simple outline in pencil, cut-out any shapes then let them go.

The steps in this project are outlined visually, below.