How to Make Recycled Animals
Recycled animals are a fun and eco-friendly way to show kids how the planet works and make learning about the natural world more fun. These crafts are great for school classrooms, homeschool, or family activities. They also make excellent decorations for your garden!
How to Make Recycled Animals
The idea of recycling is simple: take only what you need, and save what you don’t. The key is to reduce, reuse and recycle in a way that makes sense for your environment. Thankfully, many animals do this beautifully, and they’re often our best inspiration for how to do it ourselves.
Octopuses are a perfect example of an animal that uses waste products to build their own homes. They build their shelters out of anything that is available, such as coconut shells, plastic bottles and glass jars.
You can create your own octopus with a plastic bottle, paint and pipe cleaners! This recycled octopus is a fantastic way to teach your kids about reusing waste materials!
Birds are another animal that loves to use discarded items in their nests. They use old newspapers, paper clips and twigs to build their nests, and they may even bring them home with them!
Similarly, squirrels store their food in tree limbs or in burrows, making these squirrels some of the most eco-friendly animals around.
Other animal types that are known for taking “reduce, reuse and recycle” to the next level are turtles. These species are found living in temperate deciduous forests and hibernate in the winter, either beneath water or inside burrows.
To make these adorable recycled turtles, cut out shapes for the body and legs of a cereal box or similar container. Then, make a curly tail from sections of the box you have already discarded.
Once the animals are assembled, add wiggly eyes and noses with googly eyes or cutout animal eyes from magazines and newspapers. Glue on whiskers made from paper shreds or pipe cleaners as well.
How to Make Recycled Animals in Paper Tubes
This recycled craft is a great alternative to the traditional Valentine’s Day card! Your child can give these cute paper tube creatures to friends and family as a unique valentine gift.
You can use any kind of tube you want, but paper towel and toilet paper rolls are ideal. They are inexpensive, easy to work with and look great when they’re finished.
These are great recycled animals to keep on display for anyone to enjoy! You can display them as a cute addition to your decor or on the wall in your room.
How to Make Recycled Bottle Art
Turn old plastic bottles into adorable zoo animals. You can make them in any shape and color that you like!
Your children will have a blast making these zoo animals and they can even show their creations off to family and friends. This is a great project for classrooms to do during Earth Day or other related science units.