Trash to treasure

[sctmom]

How have you used "trash" for Cub Scout type crafts?

 

Here are a few I have tried with some success:

 

Cardboard box oven

 

TP rolls birdfeeder - cover with peanut butter and birdseed, hand on a string in the tree.

 

Bottle caps, buttons, thread spools, pipe cleaners, etc. --- let the boys make "art projects" with these.

 

Soap bars - carving

 

[LauraMO]

My Wolf den conservation project this year is for each Cub to collect 2 paper sacks filled with recyclable items to be donated to the local children's museum craft center. The museum has a wish list of certain household items that usually end up in the trash (egg cartons, TP roll holders, bottle caps, yogurt cups, styrofoam trays, berry baskets, etc.).

[ScoutParent]

2 liter soda bottles for terrariums or rockets.

 

Metal candy tins for pocket first aid kits.

 

Film cannisters hold dryer lint, wood shavings, etc for fire starting.

 

Any interesting items for "Genius Kits" Have kits with all sorts of interesting items--have groups of boys make a useful item out of it

 

Cardboard boxes to make games.

 

Toilet paper rolls cut in increments and covered make napkin rings for blue and gold.

 

Scraps of material, feathers, pinecones, coat hangers, wood scraps

all come in handy for craft projects.

 

 

[drhannon]

When I was a den leader we used old plastic drink bottles (64oz or bigger) or old clorox bottle and made piggy banks.

[sctmom]

Wash those clorox bottles very good! Way back when I was in kindergarten, they showed us how to make a bird feeder out of a clorox bottle. Being a kid who loved to make stuff, I dug a clorox bottle out of the trash, was cutting it with the big sharp scissors when my mother found me. Oh, they forgot to tell me to rinse the bottle. Clorox was dripping on my bright red Ked's, the only pair I owned. I don't remember my mother going beserk, just explaining to ask next time.

 

[mom22scouts]

A project that my Webelos enjoyed was tin can lanterns. We've also done milk jug bird feeders. We painted small jigsaw puzzle pieces green and made wreath ornaments for the Christmas tree. And the thing that they enjoyed most was doing junk art (I think technically it's called a construction) for the Artist badge.

[LauraMO]

What's the craft recipe for the tin can lantern? 'Sounds like something my boys might like.

 

[mom22scouts]

I couldn't find the link to the directions I used last year. But the basics are: use a clean tin can, label removed. Fill it with water and freeze it - this makes it easier to punch holes in the can without crushing it. Punch a design into the can using various sizes of nails. Place a small candle in the empty can.

 

I made up some standard designs - christmas tree, star, and so on. Some of my kids chose to make their own. My assistant and I worked with a couple of kids at a time, so that we could supervise them with hammers and nails. I think they had as much fun chipping the ice out of the cans as they did making the designs.

 

 

[sctmom]

I think this is in the Cub Leader How To Book and/or The Cub Scout Fun book.