100 Things to Recycle and Make by Fiona Hayes

100 Things to Recycle and Make (Crafty Makes)

by Fiona Hayes

Keep crafty children of all ages entertained and inspired for hours with Fiona Hayes’ 100 Things to Recycle and Make.
 
Everyday materials are transformed into all kinds of stunning and practical projects, from toy animals and vehicles to dressing-up props, decorations, games, and even fun storage solutions. Bringing together the best projects from the popular Crafty Makes series, each section is dedicated to a different base object: cardboard boxes; paper plates; cardboard tubes; materials from nature; and egg cartons. With twenty projects per section to choose from, and 100 projects overall, this book will appeal to a wide range of ages and interests.
 
Simple cardboard tubes become a set of pirate skittles, a friendly octopus, and an entire castle. Plain cardboard boxes are turned into a pirate ship, a money box, and a robot; twigs, leaves and other outdoors materials become picture frames, masks, and a dinosaur. Paper plates make a great bug or flower hat, a dotty frog, and a cute panda, while egg cartons are turned into a fire engine, a pencil holder, and a Christmas tree.
 
Children will be entertained for hours with this invaluable collection of crafty makes, and even the whole family can be involved in recycling everyday objects and turning them into exciting projects. Create entire animal kingdoms and alien worlds, or simply a new favourite toy or mascot.
 
With such a huge range of exciting projects to make from the simplest of objects, 100 Things to Recycle and Make is the ultimate craft inspiration for creative children.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

5 of 5 stars

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Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

100 Things to Recycle and Make is a tutorial book aimed at kids and their caregivers. Anyone who has ever been around kids at any gift-giving holiday knows that kids generally spend much less time playing with and enjoying their presents than time spent playing with the packaging/boxes/wrappers. This book uses everyday repurposed and found objects in creative play to make fun playthings.

Due out 18th June 2019 from Quarto on their QEB imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in hardback format. It's unclear from the publishing info if this book will be available in ebook format, but I will add that the eARC which was provided for review purposes had a very handy interactive table of contents and hyperlinks.

There are (by my count) 100 step by step illustrated tutorials arranged in 5 sections of 20 tutorials each. The base structures used in each of the tutorial sections are arranged around: cardboard boxes, paper plates, cardboard tubes, nature crafts, and egg cartons.

The introduction is a half page sidebar with a list of general items (glue, tape, ruler, scissors etc) which are used in the tutorials. It should be noted that the book doesn't contain very many actual photographs, but it does have colorful line drawn illustrations of the step-by-step tutorials (and a photograph of each completed project).

This would make a wonderful library book, homeschooling art unit book, make-it-take-it workshop, summer vacation book etc. Really fun and colorful vibrant homemade toys. I can see this book being a go-to favorite for babysitters and beleaguered parents during summer vacation. Start saving empty cereal boxes, egg cartons, and gift wrap tubes now.

Five stars. There are a lot of good ideas here.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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  • 14 June, 2019: Reviewed