What’s that you say? You stockpiled 36 loo rolls in a COVID-19 panic and now have an abundance of cardboard tubes and a house full of bored kids? Then let me tell you about this fabulous crafty book we were lucky enough to review as we look forward to 12 weeks of lockdown.
Full of fun makes using old socks and cardboard tubes, The Brilliant Recycling Project Book published by Welbeck Publishing includes lots of fun little projects encouraging little ones to reduce, reuse and recycle.
As we’re currently on government lockdown as we attempt as a global nation to come together to minimise the impact of the horrid coronavirus, we’re forced to seek new and innovative ways to entertain ourselves as we look forward to several weeks (months?) indoors.
So as a mother-of-two young kids aged 3 and 7, I was worried this lockdown was going to feel like a prolonged rainy Saturday afternoon but we’re slowly finding our feet with some semblance of routine and balance juggling work and homeschooling and Sara Stanford’s book has been a lifesaver!
During today’s design and technology session we decided to dip into the book to see what we could find. Straight away the lay-out and contents page was super vibrant and inviting and set out clearly so you know exactly which craft you’d like to try.
My 3-year-old Margot was torn between the bat or the mermaid – which surprised me as she usually loves unicorns and the one in the book looks super fun to make and I fully intend to have a go as soon as the next loo roll runs out. I even dug out the gold glitter in readiness! In the end, Margot opted for the mermaid and we had lots of fun painting the cardboard and curling the paper to make her luscious locks.
The step-by-step instructions make it really easy to follow which is great for children a little older as it allows them to independently get creative, though a little help is required for younger makers.
We loved the variety of ideas, none of which were totally gender-specific, and liked that each make had a ‘go further’ option which offered another layer to the book as the possibilities become almost endless – providing you’ve got enough loo roll that is and let’s face it, it’s like gold dust at the moment!
We had every intention of turning the kitchen roll tube into some colourful coral as suggested on the mermaid make page, however, we ended up having to cut it in two after our ninja make, made like a ninja and vanished.
Sebastian, my 7-year-old was stuck between the shark or the ninja and in the end, he settled on the ninja but we ended up with two painted tubes because whilst it was outside to dry, it disappeared! So we started again only to find a gust of wind had blown the original underneath the barbecue! Mystery solved and at least now we have a blue tube ready to be transformed into a shark at a later date.
I thought it might be too simple for my little boy to be honest as he’s very technical and loves engineering activities over anything creative so it was really encouraging for him to ask to get involved and hear him describe the book as ‘cool’ and ‘really fun’ – high praise indeed believe me!
Margot was also a big fan and ended up playing with her creation all day which eventually meant it was covered in sand in the sandbox and looked like she could do with a day at the salon to fix her curls! I hope this means we’ll have to make another one really soon so I can have a go at making the sparkly unicorn.
UPDATE: No sooner had I written this, I had two little people ask to get the book down again. Here are our latest creations – the much-anticipated unicorn and our snappy shark. These two makes were particularly tricky so needed lots of parent help but there was still plenty for little helpers to do such as shredding the tissue paper, cutting and sticking and of course painting.
How much is the book and where can I buy it?
The book retails for £8.99 and you can buy it here.
About the Author
Sara Stanford is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for the natural world. She has worked on licensed and own-brand books, magazines and partworks for Egmont, Scholastic, Hachette and Eaglemoss.
About the book:
The Brilliant Recycling Project Book is a bind-up of I Am Not a Toilet Roll and I Am Not an Old Sock
Publisher: Welbeck Publishing Group
ISBN: 9781783125180
Number of pages: 96
Dimensions: 262 x 228 mm
You may also want to read other titles by Julie Houston:
I Am Not A Toilet Roll – The Recycling Project Book
I Am Not An Egg Box – The Recycling Project Book
I Am Not A Cereal Box – The Recycling Project Book
I Am Not An Old Sock – The Recycling Project Book
The Amazing Recycling Project Book: Recycle egg and cereal boxes into marvellous makes!
Minecraft Master Builder: Monsters
What Are You Looking At?: Extraordinary creatures you’ve never seen!
Review by: Libby Wilkinson
You may also want to read this:
Tips, Ideas and links to help homeschool kids during Covid-19
Children’s Book Review – Hannah and the Spanner Books
Children’s Book Review – Sparky the Dragon Bus by Sue Wickstead
* We were sent copies of the books for free in return for a review. All opinions are our own.
20 comments
Great idea to recycle materials in a way to do creative things while spending time with your kids! Really inspiring I think 🙂 I might start doing that with my siblings.
Yes, please do and remember to let us know how it goes
What a great book, my Daughter would have loved this when she was little. We hardly had any recycling as she was always rooting through looking for things to make with it
It sure is full of inspirations
Aaahhhh this sounds really lovely. My son would really enjoy the activities included in the book as he loves anything to do with arts and crafts.
How wonderful! Kids do love arty things
What an apt book for the times and all the loo rolls which everyone will have stockpiled. This looks like such a fun crafty book x
It sure is Rhian, especially if you have little ones around to keep entertained
This is fantastic and a great thing to encourage with recycling, let alone at the moment where finding things for the kids to do everyday can be challenging, It looks a solid book with some great ideas, the end results by the way were great.
I totally agree, so important to change things up to keep them inspired
This looks like a fantastic book that Jack would really enjoy. He actually had work set by school that included making a model from recycling today!
How wonderful! I know kids love to get crafty things done as it is so fun
This looks like a great book for kids and not just for the crafts, but because it will help to show them that things you consider rubbish can often be repurposed.
Agree, and kids need to know that so they are reusing the materials
What a great book to have in these current times! My recycling is gathering in the garage and I am going to look into ordering this to help keep my 4 year old entertained without some kind of screen. He’s not the most crafty child but I think he would enjoy a lot of it!
Yes go ahead and order it, they are still shipping the books out at the moment
This looks great for lockdown period where you cannot get access to the usual craft supplies as easily
Absolutely fabulous book, both mine had a ball making things
What a great book! I am definitely going to have to get this for my two. They both LOVE crafting, art and anything like that so they would love this! Loving your makes too, the unicorn and shark at the end are AMAZING!
Hope you do, its a great book to keep them busy and entertained during this period