Several of the crafts Emily and I create are products of the Invention Kit. We love recycling materials and finding new uses for things, so we set aside a separate box with things that might be useful for future projects.
Here are some of the things we keep in the Invention Kit:
- Egg Cartons — Great for holding paints, and we have several ideas for future craft projects using these.
- Plastic Bottles — We have made bird feeders from these.
- Empty Cereal Boxes — We never buy cardboard. Instead, we use up cereal boxes. Click here and here for some inspiration.
- Paper Towel and Toilet Paper Rolls — Click here for instructions to make your own bird watching kit using paper rolls. This was one of Emily’s favorite projects!
- Frozen Juice Concentrate Lids — We recently made a matching game with these. They can also be made into magnets, or other ornaments.
- Empty Margarine Containers — We use these for holding water during painting projects.
- Paper Bags — I will cut these up and Emily loves to draw and paint on the non-printed side for free craft paper.
- Junk Mail/Catalogs — See Emily’s recent collage project using flower catalogs. We have also used a hole puncher on different colored junk mail and made terrific confetti with it.
Does your family keep an Invention Kit? I would love to hear about it! Leave us a comment and share your ideas with us!
January 16th, 2009 on 2:32 pm
This is such a great idea! I never thought to use egg cartons for paints but now I can’t wait to try it! Thanks!
February 8th, 2009 on 4:33 pm
Cute name for it; thanks for the ideas! My son is only 14 months, but I just decided last week that I’d start ripping all of the images out of junk mail and brochures before I throw them out and toss them in a craft bin with stickers, index cards, construction papers, paper towel rolls, etc. I was just thinking of it as a craft box, but “invention kit” sounds like a lot more fun. I think it would be a lot of fun to decorate a big box now to read “invention kit!” If I do, I’ll link back to your site. Or do you want to organize to do posts about it at the same time sometime?
July 21st, 2009 on 7:36 pm
I'm always stashing things away to use for crafts later. You've given me so many ideas, thanks!
November 3rd, 2009 on 10:20 am
You'll be surprised to know that I do have, what I call, a craft box! It was a medium style storage container then Amber's godfather was getting rid of a large one so everything got transferred. The box is full so I still need to see if there's a preschool or somewhere that'll take my "extras." I started the box when Amber was in middle school because she always had so many projects to do. I put scrapbooking stuff in there too.
March 24th, 2010 on 5:01 pm
I save all those things too, but I've never thought of coming up w/a name for the stash!