Up-cycling art

The extended periods of time at home, and reduced out of home activities over the year or two has led to increased amounts of drawings, paintings and craft being produced by little hands. A delightful sea of creativity in the form of paper, cardboard and colour! If you’ve got an arty, crafty, creative child like I do, you can probably relate to being a bit lost on what to do with it all.

Of course, a lot gets kept and displayed proudly or gifted to friends and family. But a lot ends up being thrown out/recycled! I am currently in the process of moving house and have discovered stockpiles of artwork from over the years. It has got me thinking of some creative ways to up-cycle children’s artwork, so here are three fun ideas to try. 

Home made confetti:

Use a hole-punch to create DIY confetti at home! This is a great eco-friendly replacement for glitter and makes a great addition to a pasting activity. 

Unique wrapping:

Use old paintings and drawings as unique, colourful gift wrapping. With Christmas sneaking up on us, this is a great way to repurpose the art work you’ve been collecting. 

Artwork collage:

Turn lots of paintings into one special collage. Start by cutting up drawings paintings and anything else suitable into pieces of different shapes and sizes. They could be random shapes or specific shapes like stars, circles and so on.. whatever goes! This is great fine motor practice for little hands! Then add some glue to stick it all together. You could use thick paper, card, canvas or wood as the base for your beautiful collage.