National Earth Day is recognised as the largest civic event in the world.
Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 every year. The day aims to raise awareness about climate change and global warming. The day inspires to act towards the protection of the environment and focus on the need for conservation.
You can find out more about National Earth Day here
We’ve put together this activity to help reuse and repurpose items you already have. This helps us think about how we can be more mindful of the resources we use and think of different ways we can protect our earth.
What You Need:
• An empty clean milk or orange juice carton.
• A pencil.
• Ruler.
• A Cutting knife and scissors.
• Glue.
• Some old wrapping paper.
• Any second-hand decorative items, like ribbons or cording from an old gift bag, or broken and unused jewellery.
How To Make A Decorative Storage Unit:
• Take your carton, then measuring from the bottom, measure 15cm in length and draw a line all the way around it.
• Using your art knife and scissors, cut around the line removing the top of the carton.
• Next, choose what wrapping paper you would like to cover your carton with.
• Cut the paper to size leaving a 2.5cm overhang at the top and bottom.
• Place your carton in the middle of the paper and use a pencil to draw around the bottom of the carton – this is to be used as a guideline.
• Apply some glue to one side of the carton, then carefully place it onto the paper, lining it up with the line you made earlier.
• Smooth out any air bubbles and carry on gluing all the other sides, gently sticking the paper down and smoothing it out.
• Fold over and glue the paper at the bottom of the carton.
• If the paper has become uneven at the top, trim it slightly with your scissors to even it out.
• Glue inside the top of the carton, fold over the paper and stick it down.
• Next take some more wrapping paper and cut out a square 6cm by 6cm, and glue this to the bottom of the carton.
• Now your unit is ready to be decorated, so be creative as you like! Ribbons and cording from old gift bags look great around the edges, and small pieces of jewellery like brooches or pin badges can add sparkle. Glue or pin these items on and now you have a beautiful storage unit to put to practical use!
Try making different size storage units – 10cm in length is perfect for pens and pencils, and 5cm in length is great for small stationery items.
This is a fantastic craft activity to up-cycle waste products and stops them from going to landfill……
