Spring is finally here (my favourite season by the way), which apparently means my recycling bin fills up faster than I can say ‘neutral weather.’ It’s a nice mix of my empty Amazon boxes from my latest cleaning spree and cereal cartons that refuse to squeeze into the bin properly. But, instead of fighting the lid, I’m leaning into it, ’cause in the end, we all want to be the ‘creative mom’ this season, but I refuse to spend $50 on craft supplies that require walking to the store while pushing my very big bugaboo stroller. So, grab your coffee or your hot chocolate and meet me at the bin, because we’re making magic out of trash and junk drawer finds today for exactly zero dollars.
Egg carton flower frame
I’m in love with and in awe of how this turned out. This is definitely your sign to save your next egg cartons. So, I cut out the frame from recycled cardboard, cut out the individual egg holders from the carton, then carefully trimmed the edges so that they look like flower petals. Then, I painted each flower and let them dry before glueing them all around the frame. You can totally pair this flower frame with my flower wreath/crown printable.
P.S. – I didn’t do this alone; of course, I had my little crafters with me.
Tin Cans – Spring Planting
If you’ve got empty tin cans from beans or milk, please don’t throw them away – save them instead, because they make the easiest little spring planters. This is one of those activities that you can bond with your kids over.
All you need to do is rinse the cans, make sure you let them dry properly, and then you and your kids can paint or decorate them however you like …. with markers, stickers, or even just scribbles. Then fill them with a bit of soil and drop in some seeds (I bought seeds in one of our local stores nearby).
What I love about this one is that it doesn’t end after the craft. Your kids actually get to watch something grow, water it, and check on it every day, which kind of turns it into a little routine without you even planning it.
Cereal box suncatchers
This is one of those crafts that looks way more impressive than the effort it takes, definitely my favourite kind. I used an empty cereal box and cut out a butterfly shape, then removed the inside so I was left with just the frame. Behind the frame, I added strips of tape across the opening, sticky side facing up.
Now, for the fun part, my kids picked some leaves and flowers on our way back from kindergarten, and we stuck them straight onto the tape. Once we were done, I held it up toward the sun, and we just stood there watching the light come through it.
Egg cup vase
This one is so simple it almost feels like cheating… but kids love it.
Take the bottom part of an egg carton, cut out individual cups, and paint and decorate them however you want. You can use markers or paint whatever you already have. Then place a few tiny flowers inside (real ones from outside or even fake ones if you’ve got them, because I used pipe cleaners for flowers).
You can line a few of them up on the table or windowsill, and your home will have little “spring moment” going on, created entirely from something you were about to throw away.
The Upcycled Rainbow Mosaic
This one is the ultimate upcycled mosaic craft because I literally scavenged my kitchen for it. I went from picking the cereal box out of the bin to using the skin of the tangerine I had just given my kids. It was definitely one of those “wait, this actually turned out cute” moments for me.
All I did was draw a rainbow on a large cardboard, and glued all the items, following the rainbow colours, and the supplies I used were: a red cereal box, tangerine peels, painted pasta, leaves from outside, tissue paper from my old shoe box, an empty Barilla (pasta) box, and onion peels. Everything we used to make this textured rainbow literally came from my kitchen, not a single dollar spent.
Cereal Box Theatre
This one is the fun one because it becomes a toy afterwards, and turns into playtime. We used an empty cereal box and a scrap of cloth. We cut out a rectangle from the front of the box and decorated the outside, made popsicle-stick characters to go with it, and then put on a little show.
Upcycled City
If your kids love cars, they’re going to love this one.
To make this, we used recycled cardboard for the base, toilet paper rolls, kitchen rolls, masking tape, and some paint. First, we painted the cardboard to look like a road. Then we painted the toilet and kitchen rolls and glued them onto the cardboard on opposite sides so they looked like tall buildings facing each other. After that, we added strips of masking tape across the rolls to create little “windows” on the buildings, and that’s it. I love that it turned into a whole play setup without any extra effort from me.
Spring Hunt
This one is my favourite because it’s basically my excuse to get my lazy butt off the couch and out of the house. For this, we used empty egg cartons and a simple printable for the hunt. Our cartons didn’t have lids to glue the printable onto, so I improvised and stuck it onto a piece of cardboard instead, and honestly, it worked perfectly. Then we headed outside and went on our little Spring hunt.
I’ll be honest with you, though… this is probably the easiest activity you can set up for your kids without stressing over it, just fresh air and nature.
I’ve made this super easy for you by putting together a printable set of 3 with different items to find. So you can go ahead and grab my free Spring Hunt printable in my growing print-and-play library and have this ready in minutes.
Kitchen roll Animals
We all love toilet and kitchen paper rolls because of all the fun possibilities they bring, like these paper roll animals. I actually made this as a party favour for my daughter’s fourth birthday; it was part of my cost-effective way of putting her birthday together. If you want to see exactly how I did it, you can check out my post here: DIY Party Favours for Kids’ Birthday Party.
I used kitchen paper rolls, construction paper and markers. I wrapped each roll with one sheet of construction paper and drew animal faces on them; that was it. Optionally, you can skip the construction paper bit and just let your kids draw faces on the plain rolls; either way, it’s still fun to do, and enough to keep your kids busy.
Cereal box puzzle
This is secretly educational, but, shhhhh……… don’t tell them.
I say it’s educational because fixing something that’s broken takes lots of patience and real thinking. With this sort of activity, kids have to figure out what fits where, make decisions, and stick with it even when it doesn’t work the first time. And to be honest, that kind of problem-solving is very powerful. You’re saving money and giving your kids something meaningful that actually keeps them busy long enough for you to breathe for a second. We made this by cutting up a cereal box into different square pieces, in different sizes, and it was one of those quick, on-the-spot kitchen activities I set up for them while prepping dinner.
What you should know
At the end of the day, you really don’t need to run to the store to buy craft supplies every time you want to do an activity with your kids, because half the time, you already have the stuff you need; you just need to check your recycling bin and your kitchen drawers.
If you want more low-prep ideas like this, check out my Free Printables Library. It’s my go-to when I don’t feel like setting anything up.
