Ah, Earth Day.
One of the few things in life that’s older than me.
Thank goodness for Earth Day.
No longer an occasion celebrated solely by tree huggers, hippies and flower power people; Earth Day is now a mainstream event commemorated around the world with the hope of raising awareness about our planet’s needs and promoting the modern environmental movement.
Translation: Use the day to show your kids how recycling can be fun.
Let’s face it; most of our homes are filled with junk.
And by junk I mean items that sit around collecting dust until you can figure out a way to repurpose them.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can breathe new life into old, broken or unloved stuff, such as:
Jewelry: Dig through your jewelry box and pick out pieces that are broken or excessively worn. Use pliers or a wire cutter to salvage beads, charms, precious stones and jewels from earrings, bracelets, pendants or necklaces. Then, string the items together to make a new piece of jewelry. You can also make money by selling any gold or silver bits and pieces leftover from unwanted or broken jewelry.
Socks: Don’t trash worn socks; rather, transform them into puppets. Your kids will love decorating their new playthings with markers, paint and googly eyes. Or, sew a button over a hole and turn the old stocking into a sock monkey.
Clothes: Instead of dumping torn clothes, cut them into squares and piece together a patchwork quilt or pillow. You can further personalize this recycled piece by using all of your daughter’s outgrown baby clothes to make her a blanket to take to college.
Jars and Cans: Collect old jars and tin cans. Paint each or cover with construction paper and have kids decorate with stickers, stamps, crayons, glitter, sequins, buttons or ribbon. Use the embellished containers to store pencils, candy or other loose items.