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Friday, May 04, 2012

Recycling Your Children's School Supplies

By Melissa

pencilsThe end of the school year is upon us and that means packets of papers and bags of gear are coming home from the classroom. Leftover crayons, partially used pencils, half used notebooks of paper and stacks of artwork will make their way into my laundry room on the last day of school, but this year I have a plan. I already know what I’m going to do with all of these extra school supplies.

Nearly New Items

If you’re like me, you probably buy more gear than your children need. Stash the items away in a safe place and when August rolls around, you can all go back-to-school shopping in your closet.  Carefully remove used papers out of a barely-used notebook and sharpen and put away pencils that still have a lot of life left in them.

Artwork

My youngest is moving from 2nd grade into 3rd grade for the 2012-2013 school year and that means that I still have a lot of artwork coming home the last few days of school. Projects that have been hanging up in the classroom will now be delivered to my house so that I can treasure them.

I never know what to do with all of the artwork but this year I’m going to have my daughter help me pick out a few of her favorites and I’ll set those aside for safekeeping. The rest of the items will be scanned into my computer for virtual viewing and then we’ll repurpose the items for summer arts and crafts projects. The blank backside of projects can be used for sketching and drawing. Alternately, the artwork can be ripped or cut up for mosaic crafts or to be used as confetti for a summertime party.

Crayons

Broken crayons always seem to find their way into my home, even if the teacher plans on reusing them herself. Thankfully these crayons can be used for a fun, adult-supervised craft – making new crayons. Get creative and buy a star-shaped oven-safe silicone baking mold and make multi-colored star crayons to use or give away to your children’s friends on Memorial Day, the 4th of July or Labor Day.

What do you do with your children’s artwork at the end of the school year?

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