Magic Wands and the Wonder of the Recycling Bin

The other day my son needed a magic wand.  He chose a long stick. Um...dangerous when a two year old waves it around!  You do remember the saying that it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye?  That's what was running through my head when I saw it!  

The solution - run to the recycling bin (faster than pulling out our 'maker' box) and see what in there could work to make a wand.  We settled on a cheerios box, cut up into two big stars and then we stapled them together over the top of a wooden spoon.  Instant magic wand!  And days later it's still working - albiet with a little added tape to hold it together.

This got me to thinking about what ends up in that bin. I've been trying to think of how I could reuse some of the stuff in there before it heads to the recycling depot.   So far I've kept baby food jars so I can make baby meals in them and freeze them. These are great as you can reuse over and over and still recycle them.  I'm also saving stuff like paper towel rolls, cardboard, little containers and so one for our 'maker' box (see my toddler blog for more info on this idea)  And I do save my baby formula containers (not recyclable), lids and scoops for my Mom to take their local kindergarten class to use in crafts.  I think I might start saving smartie boxes and little ones like that for her, too, as the kids use them to make stuff.

Can you think of anything in your recycling box that could have another life?


(ps.  Kiva has a ton of loans open at the moment and it looks like lots of them will not be funded before they expire - if you wish to loan as little as $25, check it out using the link to the left of this  post. We've funded lots of loans and so far our intitial $100 investment has been fully repaid over and over by everyone we've given too.  It's a great feeling to look and see we've helped 9 people so far, and we can just keep giving the same money to help another as it gets repaid.  While they cannot guarantee repayment, we've noticed that these entreprenuers work hard to pay back their loans and you will likely see it all come back to you to regift or use for something else as you wish.)