Chipper Recycle Craft: 3 Fun Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids

Valentines is the perfect time to show your love! Your love of family, friends, community…and NATURE! Recycling crafts are not only a fun activity to get creative, they teach our children to reuse, reduce and recycle materials rather than tossing things in the trash. Explain to your little one’s that paper comes from trees and trees make our air, so let’s conserve and reuse!

Nothing’s as special as a home-made craft. Connect on an intimate level not only by making something but by giving extra kisses and hugs this month. It’s the little things that really matter so spread your love in small ways. Share a special family moment with Chipper on Facebook for a chance to win some delicious homemade heart cookies!

CRAFT #1 – Toilet Paper Roll Heart Prints

Photo from ribbons

What you need:

• Toilet paper roll
• Paint
• Recycled paper or news paper

Instructions:

• Simply shape your toilet roll into a heart by folding it in half. Use tape to secure shape if necessary.
• Fill a small plate or container lid with pain the color of your kiddo’s choice.
• Dip one end of your toilet roll heart into the paint, and press against your paper like a stamp.
• Repeat as desired. To make a different color, simply flip your heart stamp and use the clean end or make another heart stamp with a fresh recycled roll.
• Hang up on the fridge or in the class to decorate for the holiday of love! Great for making homemade Valentine’s Day cards.

CRAFT#2 – Sweet Stuff Container

Photo from huffingtonpost

Make an adorable container for your Valentine’s Day treats! Customize for that special someone or make a bunch for your whole class!

What you need:

• Toilet paper roll
• Paint, markers, stickers, etc.
• Tape

Instructions:

• Color and decorate your toilet roll with paint, markers, stickers, buttons, crayons, etc. Sky’s the limit with recycle crafts. Use what you can find around the house or in your waste bins! You’ll be surprised how creative your kid can be.
• Bend in the sides on each end, securing one end with tape or glue.
• Fill your container with yummy sweet, love notes, or some special coupons for the parents like, “Worth 10 Hugs!”
• Bend the open end to close and secure with tape, glue, or even some pretty ribbon or string!
• Share with loved ones and friends.

CRAFT#3 – Crayon Hearts

Photo from parentmap

Reuse old and broken crayons with this creative craft!

What you need:

• A bunch of old, broken or unused crayons.
• Heart cookie mold or tin
• Conventional Oven

Instructions:

• Heat the oven to 250°.
• Fill each heart mold with crayon pieces. You can mix colors or try coordinating them.
• Place heart mold or tray into the oven and bake until the crayons melt, about 10 to 15 minutes. Make sure to place a sheet pan under the crayons to catch any drips.
• Once they’re cool, remove the hearts from the molds and smooth any rough edges by rubbing them on a piece of scrap paper.
• Give away to friends with a note saying, “You color my world!” or enjoy them at home. Fun gift that keeps on giving when you use them for future crafts!

What’s your favorite thing about Valentine’s day? Share with Chipper!

Chipper Nature Craft: Valentine’s Day Bird Feeder

Celebrate your love of nature and make a heart shaped bird seed feeder this Valentine’s Day! The birdies like Red and Robbin will sure love you back for putting some out and bird watching makes a great activity for you and the family to get outdoors and watch you winged friends stop by!

What you need:

• 1 1/2 cups Bird Seed (check out your local pet store or learn to make your own here!)
• Peanut Butter (if your child has allergies, try using 2 gelatin packets and a 1/2 cup of boiling water instead!)
• Heart Shaped cookie cutter (and tin foil or wax paper!) or silicon mold (no tin foil or wax paper needed!)
• String
• Scissors
• Straws

Instructions:

1. First, make your bird seed mixture in a large bowl. How much peanut butter you use depends on how many bird feeder hearts you want to make. A regular sized container of peanut butter to one regular sized bird bag works perfectly. The goal is to have enough peanut butter to make sure the bird feed stays together. Alternatively, if your kids have peanut allergies, use gelatin and water instead!
2. Once you have your mixture, start pressing it firmly into your mold. If you are using a cookie cutter, place your cutter on top of a sheet of foil or wax paper. If using foil, some no-stick cooking spray makes it easy to remove your feeder once it dries.

1. Cut up your straws into small pieces. Stick one piece into the top of your heart. This makes a hole for your string so you can easily stick it through to hang your feeder. If you don’t have any straws around or want to forgo using plastic, just stick your pre-cut/pre-tied piece of string into your half-filled mold or cutter then add the rest of the seed mixture on top to hold in place.
2. Once you have formed your hearts and have added your straws or stings, place on a cookie sheet and dry for a few hour (over night is best).
3. Once dry, pull out your straws and tie through your string.
4. Now comes the fun part! Explore your back yard or school yard for the perfect place to hang your feeder. Make sure it is in a spot you can observe later.
5. Look outside every day and observe which kids of birds you see and how long it takes for them to eat the whole feeder. The hearts not only give little birds some much needed nourishment during the cold winter months, they also add some natural sparkle to your wintery yard!

Making flower art is another fun craft with left over bird seed and dry beans. Just grab some recycled paper and glue, make your design with the glue on your paper, then pour over seed and dry!

Photo from Delightful Learning

What other craft can you make with bird seed? Let Chipper know and have fun bird watching! 🙂

Chipper Recycle Crafts: Home-made Valentines Day Cards and Decorations

“To love one’s self is the beginning of a life-long romance.” -Oscar Wilde

February is the month of love! Show your appreciation to your friends, family and loved ones by making them a Valentines Day card or decoration. Nothing’s as special as a home-made craft. Connect on an intimate level not only by making something but by giving extra kisses and hugs this month. It’s the little things that really matter so spread your love in small ways.

Appreciate and care for the planet by making recycled crafts, it’s amazing what you can make from “trash.” Save some trees by reusing old Valentines Day cards: just cut off the cover from an old card then attach it to a fold piece of recycled scrap paper. Color it, add decorations, or cut it out in the shape of a heart. They sky’s the limit when crafting with recycled materials. Just use what you have around the house. Pink buttons would be adorable on a crafted card!

Make a “Love Bug!” 

First, cut out a heart (it’s easiest to fold a paper in half, draw a half heart from the fold, then cut a long the line) from a recycled cereal or food box or any paper product that’s a bit thick.

Then add some love! Our Chipper friend Callie used red, white and black construction paper to make hearts and a red napkin to cover her big heart. She folded strips of black paper and glued on fuzzy pom pom’s for her love bug’s eyes! She used glue but tape can be used here as well. Add some googly eyes or some legs to your bug. Put it on a popsicle stick and play or hang it on the fridge.

Have fun making a love bug with a toilet paper roll and come paper scraps! Decorate with ribbons, beads, buttons and bag ties. Here they used pipe cleaners for antennae and made wings from construction paper. You can easily use recycled paper and color it red, pink and purple with crayons and markers.

Let’s Go Chipper and get crafty this Valentines Day!!!