Earth-Friendly Crafts for Kids: 50 Awesome Things to Make with Recycled Stuff - Hardcover

Grade 5-9-Youngsters are challenged to look for recyclable items and create a wide range of useful, playful, and decorative items. Projects range from simple, decorative butterflies to a disco ball, musical instruments, jewelry, and whimsical pocket people. Along the way, the authors provide information on how to become "earth friendly," and how to salvage and reuse all kinds of materials from plastic grocery bags and paper to used computer parts. Many of the crafts call for tools, glue guns, spray paint, nails, and broken pottery and glass; several are labeled "Adult Assistance Necessary." Each project is illustrated with attractive color photos of young people involved in making and using the crafts. This appealing volume is not only a craft book; it also educates users to be more aware of packaging, waste, and of making conscious decisions about how products are used and discarded. Years of Earth Day ideas flow from between the covers of this creative book.
Kathryn Kosiorek, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn, OH
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 3-6. Using everyday materials that might otherwise end up in a landfill, this book shows children how to create jewelry from used compact disks, mats from plastic bags, and minilights from film canisters. Detailed instructions, illustrated in color photos, are easy to follow, and adult assistance is recommended for more complicated projects. Arranged by material--plastic, glass, metal, etc.--the projects are well suited for individual crafting or for clubs or groups. Ideas on how to "reuse, reduce, and recycle," such as packing an "Earth-friendly" lunch in recycled containers rather than in disposables, are interspersed among the crafts. A passionate message to protect and preserve Earth's resources is woven throughout the text, along with facts about production, limited resources, and what happens to household trash. Karen Hutt
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